A new look at Robert F. Kennedy's final flight across nation
Kennedy historian David Margolick joins 'The Story' with exclusive insight on RFK's final flight from California to New York and to commemorate his life on the 50 year anniversary of his tragic death.
This is a rush transcript from "The Story," June 5, 2018. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
BRET BAIER, FOX NEWS CHANNEL HOST: That's it for this "Special Report," and accept for caps stories. Still fair, balanced and unafraid. "The Story" hosted by Martha MacCallum in Washington tonight.
MARTHA MACCALLUM, FOX NEWS CHANNEL HOST: Bret, busy night ahead.
BAIER: Right now.
MACCALLUM: As we wait for results from key primaries in eight states that will tell us quite a bit about the nation's future political landscape and where the voters stand on the Trump agenda. Plus, "No one wants an invite anyway." That's how LeBron James reacted to the whole -- snubbing at the - - of the Eagles at the White House today before they were disinvited. We're going to show you what did happen today at 1600, Pennsylvania Avenue.
But first, Jeff Sessions has become the president's favorite Twitter target again. So can this steam blows like this, "The Russian Witch Hunt Hoax continues, all because Jeff Sessions didn't tell me he was going to recuse himself." The president wrote, "I would have quickly picked someone else. So much time and money wasted, so many lives ruined, and Sessions knew better than most but there was no collusion."
In moments, President Trump's 2020 campaign manager Brad Parscale, weighing on that. And also, how the president will top the Make America Great Again slogan. You're about to find out exclusively here tonight on "The Story." But first, Trace Gallagher, on the war against Jeff Sessions, and where it goes next?
TRACE GALLAGHER, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Martha, to understand the president's anger with Attorney General Jeff Sessions, you need to go back to July 2016, that's when the investigation began in the possible coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia.
At the time, then-Senator Jeff Sessions was among Donald Trump's more outspoken supporters. In fact, Sessions' close ties with the Trump campaign is why the president tweeted today that Sessions in part, "knew better than most that there was no collusion." And president believes that had Sessions not recused himself, he could have ended the Russia investigation or at the very least, not allowed the appointment of a special counsel.
Instead, Sessions stepped aside the investigation felt that deputy A.G. Rod Rosenstein, who appointed Robert Mueller. And two months into the Mueller probe, the president's criticism began, quoting, "Attorney General Jeff Sessions has taken a very weak position on Hillary Clinton crimes. Where are e-mails and Democratic National Committee server and Intel leakers?"
That tweet prompted speculation that Sessions would soon be fired. He wasn't, although, the criticism continued. But late last month, President Trump appeared to switch his critical focus posting a flurry of tweets on what he calls the witch hunt like this one, quoting, "The fake news media is desperate to distract from the economy and record-setting economic numbers, and so, they keep talking about the phony Russian witch hunt.
But then South Carolina congressman Trey Gowdy went on CBS and appeared to pop open the can of worms. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. TREY GOWDY, R—S.C., CHAIRMAN, HOUSE OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE: If I were the president, and I pick someone to be the country's chief law enforcement officer. And they told me later, by the way, I'm not going to be able to participate in the most important case in the office, I would be frustrated, too. That's how I read that. Is -- Senator Sessions, why didn't you tell me this before? I picked you. There are lots of good lawyers in the country, he could have picked someone else.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GALLAGHER: Yes, the president responded by quoting Gowdy and adding his own dagger, quoting, "There are lots of really good lawyers in the country, he could have picked someone else. And I wish I did." Added the president.
And yet, the White House says, no personnel changes on the horizon. In other words, Sessions remains the A.G. Martha.
MACCALLUM: Interesting tale. Trace, thank you very much. My next guest is part of the president's inner circle, Brad Parscale, was often cited as one of the masterminds behind President Trump's victory, serving as the campaign's digital director the last call around.
Now, he is taken the helm as President Trump's campaign manager for 2020, and he joins me now with an exclusive announcement that we will get to in just a moment.
Brad, good to see you. Thanks for being here tonight. You know you listen to Trace's reporting there. How difficult does that kind of stuff make your job in terms of the tweets, the Jeff Sessions' issue?
BRAD PARSCALE, CAMPAIGN MANAGER, TRUMP'S 2020 REELECTION CAMPAIGN: You know, I mean, I don't think, I make my job any more difficult. Look, I had a relationship with Jeff Sessions over the campaign, as you know, I was one of the very first people on the campaign. I was there since February of 2015.
You know, it's a disappointment for myself, as well. You knows, he knows as much as I do that there was no collusion. He was there, he was around, it wasn't like he was in there making larger decisions, but he was -- he was watching. And so, it's a disappointment, you know, and I, 100 percent think that President Trump would have known that he was going to recuse himself, he would have chosen someone else. Someone that could have make sure that we can move on from this.
MACCALLUM: Do you think he should resign?
PARSCALE: No, I don't think it's about that, and we have to finish the job at hand now. I think we need to get past this as a country.
MACCALLUM: Yes.
PARSCALE: I think when the final reports come out, and they see there is no collusion with Russia, that we ran a legitimate campaign. The president is legitimate, you know, president of the United States. And all these things finally come to conclusion because all the political part behind of it. And the president will make a decision he wants to. And I have complete faith that he'll make a great decision that's best for this country.
MACCALLUM: I was find it interesting talking to you because you ran the whole digital side of the campaign, the advertising in these remote places where you hadn't seen voters turn out the way they did during the Trump campaign.
So I know, it's especially frustrating for you to hear that -- you know, the Russians sort of somehow managed to throw the campaign to President Trump. And you know, in terms of what they were doing, right? Didn't you intersect at some point if they were -- you know, putting all these ads out on Twitter and Facebook, and you're doing the same thing?
PARSCALE: Yes. It's like seeing a light rainstorm in one part of the city flooded the entire city. It just doesn't happen. What they did was a couple of raindrops inside of a waterfall, of things that were occurring from legitimate sources and paid campaigns.
I continue to see this as a political witch hunt. The president is 100 percent right with all that. And regardless of what some people may be done 10 years ago, it doesn't matter. The campaign was run every day as a legitimate campaign.
MACCALLUM: So, I thought it's very interesting, Ben Roach, just wrote a book. And in the book, he says that the President Obama said to him that when he was asked to go to Michigan to campaign on October, that he knew something was up.
PASCALE: Yes, well, I mean, I think the final answer was when she canceled her -- you know, firework display. But yes, I think, they all started scrambling at the end. I think, we just had better data. I mean, they had just run an operation that was sophisticated for that time period of what we know now. I mean, the kind of things the Republican National Committee can tell us now the way we can see the future of how voting scores are going to happen. We were able to make really smart decisions, so we did that.
MACCALLUM: So, the couple areas that people say are potential vulnerabilities for the president. Suburban voters, suburban women in particular, outside of some of the nation's big cities who ended up voting for President Trump, and whether or not they're going to do that this time around.
Blue-collar voters, the forgotten men and women of America that the president talked so much about. You say that the data so far looks really good. What about those groups? How are you going to get them to turn out?
PARSCALE: Well, I think, there's a couple of things here. And you got two parts, this said. First is, the data has never looked better for the president. I don't say that and people articles are written that I say that just to make it happy, it's just not true. I mean, we run the largest date operation survey work in the country, and we see that America is starting to see that their personal economies are getting better, national security is getting better. The things that around there happening.
And I think, they're starting to see this accomplishment. As much as the media doesn't want outside of a couple of stations and a couple people, how much they don't want to talk about accomplishments, they're starting to get through.
And that's why today, one of the things I'm introducing today is PromisesKept.com. And because that site has every accomplishment almost that Trump has done, you know there might be a few missing we're going continue to add. And there's so many accomplishments, almost every 24 to 36 hours there's another one since he's become, president. And 500 days, he's accomplished so much.
He's turbocharged the economy, he's crushed ISIS, he's killed all these -- you know, regulations that were killing jobs. I mean, he just continues to do these things, but on the site, those are the top things that people know about, but all these little things, hundreds of them the people can go through and see.
The media doesn't talk about those things, and I think when suburban people see that and they see this personal economy, that improvement, that they can put their kid in ballerina class, they can buy a new car, they can do these things. It's going to have a significant impact.
MACCALLUM: Yes, I think people do care first and foremost about how they are doing, and not as much about some of these issues that we hear a lot about. But again, you know, back to the message, does it frustrate you as the person who's in charge of the message going forward when it gets mucked up with -- you know, all of this stuff about Jeff Sessions?
Because there are -- you know, people in some of these suburban areas who are watching all that, and they're kind of wondering whether or not the wheels are coming off.
PARSCALE: I think one of the most interesting things as you know before this, I was not very political. I didn't work in politics, I worked in corporate America. And coming into Washington, D.C., you really learn what a bubble is. And I think that people see so much different view here than the American. When Americans coming home in suburban Philadelphia, they're saying, how am I going to, you know, pay my car payment? How am I get my kid to the soccer camp tonight?
You know, the noise level is a lot less, and what they really feel and what they go vote for is the things that really affect them. And the D.C. and the media can spin up all these stories they want, but what's funny about it the more they do it the more Trump continues to rise.
MACCALLUM: All right, so let me ask you this before I let you go. I know you've been talking a lot yourself about Apple and news. And Apple picking out what news is right for you based on the other things that you're interested in. Which tells me that that's one area that you are concerned about in terms of messaging.
PARSCALE: Yes. Well, I will tell you that I've been very frustrated that a small section of people in Northern California probably one the most liberal portions of America is somehow trying to dictate what the rest of America can consume, who can be the voice. And it really worries me, it worries me that possibly three to four executives have enough control to control exactly what you read, what you -- what you listen to, what you see.
And I think that it can have a biased opinion on people, and I think that what we need to do is have an open area, and I think of a freedom that you can consume all types of content and make decision yourself. I believe that most people in America if they see both sides will make the right choice.
MACCALLUM: Yes, I think, some people really need to be so aware of, the messages that are being sent to you through your phone and everywhere else. You just want to understand and a lot of them are being sent to you intentionally. Before I let you go, I talked about Make America Great Again. Is promises kept the slogan?
PARSCALE: Well, no. I mean, no, no. I mean, Mr. Trump is on continue to talk about keep it great -- keep America great. But you know, promises kept right now as one of the kind of sub slogans. And what that means is, he made promises and he's keeping them. And what you can do is log on this web site, Promiseskept.com, and you can see that each and every promise he's made, which is hundreds in. I mean, one on nearly every 36 hours, he's trying to keep more promises kept in probably any president in the history of this country.
MACCALLUM: Did you think Dennis Rodman is a good person to help represent America in the North Korea summit?
PARSCALE: Yes, I -- look, I -- he was a good rebounder for the Bulls, that's all I know.
MACCALLUM: You could be a big -- good rebounder for the vote.
PARSCALE: Yes, I know.
MACCALLUM: It's all right. Brad, thank you. Good to see you.
PARSCALE: Thank you very much.
MACCALLUM: Thanks for being here tonight.
PARSCALE: Great to see you, thank you.
MACCALLUM: So up next, last-minute votes are being cast now in eight states for primary elections, but there is a lot of attention on California. The so-called jungle primary could really shake things up come on November. We will talk to a Democratic California congressional candidate, who was told by the party leaders in the Democratic Party there that he was too brown to win in California.
Then, our own Tucker Carlson, who hails from the Golden State joins me on the Civil War that is brewing in California. Also tonight, Bill Clinton tries to fix the damage, but perhaps, when you're in a hole it's best to stop digging. Bill Bennett, joins me on that, next.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The truth is the hubbub was I got a hotter than the collar, because of the way the questions were asked.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MACCALLUM: So the polls are closing soon in some of the key primaries across the country. We're keeping a close eye on several critical races in eight states tonight as the balance of power in Congress is up for grabs. As you know in California's 48th district which is a pretty crowded field, many of them are. In California tonight Democrats are vying for Republican Dana Rohrabacher seat who held it since 1989 he's been there. One of those candidates Omar Siddiqui was reportedly told by party officials that he was quote too Brown to win there. Here now the Democratic congressional candidate for California's 48th District Omar Siddiqui. He is also an FBI National Director of Special Projects and as a former adviser with the CIA on counterterrorism issues. Omar, thank you very much for being here tonight. It's good to have you here. Did that -- did that really happen? What happened?
OMAR SIDDIQUI, DEMOCRATIC CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE FOR CALIFORNIA'S 48TH DISTRICT: Hi Martha. Thank you so much. Well, what happened was I had some California delegates come up to me and say by far you're the best candidate, you have the most experience. You're an engineer, you're a lawyer, you have government experience. You've worked with the FBI. But you know what, the name of Omar Siddiqui will not work in Orange County. You need to change your name. And you can imagine that was just unacceptable to me. I do not want to be judged on the color of my skin but rather the content of my character.
MACCALLUM: Did you call these people out by name?
SIDDIQUI: Well, what I did was I told them point-blank, I said I'm not going to change my name. I'm not going to drop out of the race because I think someone of the name of Omar Siddiqui is not going to have a chance in Orange County and I moved forward. And we ran an excellent campaign, a clean campaign, and we did very well so I'm very excited about the results that are going to come out tonight.
MACCALLUM: Another -- you talk a lot about the division in the country and that you'd like to be someone who heals those divisions. Do you think that you know, that that was part of your message problem as far as those Democrats in power were concerned in your district?
SIDDIQUI: I love that. Well, the Democratic Party it's supposed to be the party of the underrepresented and the party of the marginalized. During the course of our campaign, we knocked on thousands and thousands of doors and one thing was a recurring theme was that the underrepresented communities were not getting attention point-blank. So yes party -- to have party unity you need to reach out to the under marginalized. We needed to make sure that we had all races, all cultures, they are a significant portion of our constituency here in Orange County. I mean, you basically have a civil war of sorts going on in California. Now you have the more rural areas that would like to see more conservative governance and then you have the you know, very (INAUDIBLE) in blue areas that have you know, a lot of issues with high taxes and people fleeing the state, you know, so how would you work to pull that back together?
SIDDIQUI: Well, I think what we need to do is we need to make sure that we put representation back in your representative. And I think Congressman Rohrabacher has been absent from the district. The only time he shows up at the district is when it comes to City Council meetings to spread hate and divide the county, and that's the wrong -- that's the wrong message. What we need to do for the county is focus on issues that affect everyone and everywhere, homelessness for example, environmental issues, the economy for example. But you don't see any of that from Rohrabacher but you'll see that from our campaign for sure when we win.
MACCALLUM: I mean, I think it's shocking that some of the party officials told you that you were quote too brown to win and we'll see what happens tonight. We thank you very much for being here. Omar Siddiqui, you have a lot of very interesting background with the FBI and CIA and the counterterrorism work that you've done so we'll see how it goes. Thank you very much, Sir.
SIDDIQUI: Thank you, Martha.
MACCALLUM: So here now with more, Tucker Carlson, Host of "Tucker Carlson Tonight," grew up in California --
TUCKER CARLSON, FOX NEWS COMMENTATOR: Yes, I did.
MACCALLUM: A lot going on in California.
CARLSON: It's the leading indicator --
MACCALLUM: They told him he was too brown to --
CARLSON: It's a race-obsessed party, I'm not surprised at all. I mean, ironically. No, that does not surprise me. The whole bet with the Democratic Party in California is the changing demographics win it for them. And the right to some extent, immigration has turned it from one of the most reliably Republican states to the most reliably Democratic state. The question now is about the economy. Can you have a state that is basically Latin American in its economic structure, huge pool of poor people, a small group of rich people, no middleclass? That's what California is trying. Its leaders are basically self-consciously pushing policies that results in that. Half of all Californians asked this week said they'd prefer to leave the state, a lot of them already have. What happens then when there's no sort of normal middle-class, you know people making $95,000 left with kids? I think that's actually where California is going. I don't know what happens.
MACCALLUM: You know, it's striking to me Jerry Brown has been around as long as you and I can remember.
CARLSON: He's the governor when I was a kid.
MACCALLUM: I hold up a picture with him and Linda Ronstadt because when I was little I thought wow, that Jerry Brown is a really cool guy. He goes out with Linda Ronstadt. I said, Tucker will appreciate this, Tucker will appreciate seeing Linda -- Jerry Brown and Linda Ronstadt. But you know, all the young people on our staffs, they look at pictures of Jerry Brown today and they go who's the old guy? That's the Governor of California.
CARLSON: He's old.
MACCALLUM: But he has made an indelible mark on the state over all these years that -- and now you know, it's the first time in 20 years that there's an open Governor's race in California.
CARLSON: And his father before him Pat Brown had been Pat Brown. Yes, the funny thing is, and this is how much the state has changed is that Jerry Brown whom when I was a kid was derided as Governor Moonbeam supposedly planted opium poppies like --
MACCALLUM: (INAUDIBLE) called him that recently because he likes that kind of throwback.
CARLSON: Well, like me he's an older gentleman. He remembers that he's now considered by my friends and relatives in California a moderating force compared to what is always the question. And so if you live in a state where Jerry Brown is considered sort of sensible industry it tells you a lot. It looks like Gavin Newsom the former Mayor of San Francisco is going to get it. Also pretty interesting, the seat -- not just liberal but the same species of sort of pro-tech liberal will be running the state. I don't see anybody and I talked to people in California a lot in state politics at a prominent level who's concerned about the death of the state's middle class, they act like it's just not a big deal. But you know, the Venezuelan economic model doesn't work. You know, in the end, it collapses. You need a middle class to sustain an economy and they're losing there's.
MACCALLUM: A couple of things I want to ask you about. You're doing a series that I read about last night I thought was very interesting, that basically, you know, sort of a diversity program in air traffic control in this country is potentially making us less safe every time we get on an airplane.
CARLSON: What's terrifying -- I'm interested in standards and their decline for a bunch of different reasons, diversity is one of them or the sort of ideology of diversity. But under the Obama administration, they change -- the FAA changed the standards for becoming an air traffic controller and instituted a screen, a biographical test that awarded points based on how little you knew. So for example, if you were unemployed for the last three years, you've got more points than if you had a job. If you knew nothing about science, you've got more points than if you were a licensed pilot. This is again for an air traffic control job. The intentional result, the least qualified --
MACCALLUM: No they didn't --
CARLSON: Yes, they did. And we've proved it and we have the documents. Our reporter Alex Piper got them and they don't deny it. I called over to FAA myself to say can you explain this? How did this make us safer? Air traffic control is a big deal. It's a linchpin of our economy for one thing. They couldn't answer that because they don't care. That's the point, they don't care whether it makes --
MACCALLUM: I mean, it's really hard to imagine -- I mean there are a few other areas but an air -- when you look at those maps that show you how many planes are flying across the country at any given moment, it's really hard to imagine a more important job in some ways for safety in this country that the people who are watching the air traffic control.
CARLSON: To award points to someone for failing in science and being unemployed for three years is insane. No one can defend it. And by the way, it's not just happening there, it's happening in a lot of other critical parts of American life. But the maintenance of standards, this is an impressive country because we can trust our air traffic control, we take that for granted. We shouldn't and so it's worth fighting back again.
MACCALLUM: I mean, the only thing that should be the most important who's the best right? Who's the best person at doing that job?
(CROSSTALK)
CARLSON: We might be like you who cares really, it's just some dumb professor, air traffic control.
MACCALLUM: Who's on tonight?
CARLSON: Well, a number of people including --
MACCALLUM: When I'm done with my show and I can kick --
(CROSSTALK)
MACCALLUM: Hey, Tucker is on.
CARLSON: Hit the minibar in my office for free booze. Pamela Anderson is on our show whom I don't know but who's a much more interesting person than you might think and knows a lot of different people you wouldn't expect her to know including Julian Assange to whom she's very close. So anyway --
MACCALLUM: Fascinating.
CARLSON: In just a minute yes, we're going to hear what she says.
MACCALLUM: All right, we look forward to it. Thanks, Tucker.
CARLSON: Thank you, Martha.
MACCALLUM: Great to be here. Good to see you. So coming up, a sign of the times. The big changes coming to the Miss America Pageant. We're not going to call it a pageant anymore apparently, but do we really need Miss America anymore? What do you think? Please, let me know. Also, critics going wild as President Trump celebrates America today instead of the Super Bowl Champion Philadelphia Eagles. I can think of many reasons not to celebrate the Eagles but that's another matter. Bill Bennett joins me next -- coming up next on what has everybody talking.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM, R—S.C.: I don't give a damn if the Philadelphia Eagles go to the White House or not. I'm glad he didn't and disinvited them.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SARAH HUCKABEE SANDERS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Look, if this wasn't a political stunt by the Eagles Franchise then they wouldn't have planned to attend the event and then backed out at the last minute. And if it wasn't a political stunt then they wouldn't have attempted to reschedule the visit when they knew that the President was going to be overseas, and if this wasn't a political stunt they wouldn't have waited until Monday while after a thousand of their fans had traveled and taken time out of their schedules to offer only a tiny handful of representatives to attend the event.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACCALLUM: That pretty much says it all, right? Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders accusing the Philadelphia Eagles of pulling a publicity stunt, one that prompted the president to call off the Super Bowl Champions visit to the White House altogether after the team said that probably only a handful of players and a mascot would be attending the Rose Garden celebration. So instead the president held a "celebrating America event." Here's what that looked like.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We stand to honor our military and to honor our country and to remember the fallen heroes who never made it back home. We stand to show our love for our fellow citizens and our magnificent Constitution. We stand to pay tribute to the incredible Americans who came before us, and the heroic sacrifices they made.
So we stand together for freedom. We stand together for patriotism, and we proudly stand for our glorious nation, under God.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MARTHA MACCALLUM, HOST, FOX NEWS: Here now, Bill Bennett, a host of the Bill Bennett podcast and a Fox News contributor and a good friend of 'The Story.' Good to see you tonight, Bill.
BILL BENNETT, CONTRIBUTOR, FOX NEWS: Hey, in person. Wow. Great. Yes.
MACCALLUM: Thanks for being here in person.
BENNETT: Yes.
MACCALLUM: Good to see you in person.
BENNETT: Thank you.
MACCALLUM: Let's put up this quote from the Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney who took advantage of the situation today. He said this. "Disinviting them from the White House only proves that our president is not a true patriot but a fragile ego maniac obsessed with crowd size and afraid of the embarrassment of throwing party to which no one wants to attend."
Did he have a point of any of that do you think?
BENNETT: No, I don't think so. He has one opportunity here to say something about the president and he took it as the mayor of Philadelphia I think we'll hear from him again.
No. The president is a pretty good. First of all, I don't think you are sad about the Eagles not coming or having to retire with the Patriots.
MACCALLUM: As I said, if the Patriots have won, which is what should have happened they would have shown up for the most part.
BENNETT: But politics in football, you know, it's unfortunate. What does our friend Laura say? Shut up and saying? Shut up and play. By the way, let me say, I am a huge football fan although its college game for me. We are three months away, can we just think about the Caps for a minute?
MACCALLUM: I know.
BENNETT: And you want to see politics, Martha? When Ovechkin goes to the White House, Putin was at Ovechkin's wedding, Mueller is going to come in and arrest them all.
MACCALLUM: Really?
BENNETT: I mean, he's going to talk about collusion, collusion.
MACCALLUM: Russians in the White House.
BENNETT: We get realistic. Look, the president uninvited them because they said they would have four or five guys coming rather than 50 or 60 or 70, that's crazy.
Now there are all sorts of unknown things and I've heard rumors that they were saying they wanted to have meetings with the president but the president denied it. I don't believe the president would want to deny a meeting, he would have one of those roundtables that you see on TV, he love to talk to those guys.
So, yes. I think some mistakes has been made on both sides here. But they were invited, the president invited them and they said, yes, we'll send five or 10 people.
MACCALLUM: And now it turns into this whole thing, now you've got LeBron James--
BENNETT: Right.
MACCALLUM: -- is saying I know regardless of who wins the series, they're playing against the Golden State Warriors, no one wants an invite anyway. I t won't be Golden State or Cleveland going. I mean, have we have gotten to a point where we should stop this whole thing?
BENNETT: No, I don't think so. There's no one--
(CROSSTALK)
MACCALLUM: I think the team should just go.
BENNETT: Yes, they should just go.
MACCALLUM: Go.
BENNETT: Yes. The president has no one to root for.
MACCALLUM: It's an honor, you know.
BENNETT: In the NBA finals he doesn't seem to root for.
MACCALLUM: True.
BENNETT: No. They should just go. I remember, Bill Clinton is not a guy I like. He was not the president I admired. But when he came into the room and we were at the Kennedy Center, I said to my family, we got to stand up he's the President of the United States.
(CROSSTALK)
MACCALLUM: Absolutely. I think every American should feel that way.
BENNETT: They were invited by the president of the United States, you go. And your team is honored in a way they can't be honored in any other way in any other venue like that, so they should have go.
(CROSSTALK)
MACCALLUM: Bill Clinton has been digging a hole and, he just keeps digging this week. He basically, you know, was asked in an interview whether or not he should apologize directly to Monica Lewinsky given the context of Me Too now.
BENNETT: Yes.
MACCALLUM: You know, this is -- this is a tough frame of reference that he was living in right now, but he was very offended that he was even asked a question about it.
BENNETT: It was different Bill Clinton.
MACCALLUM: Yes.
BENNETT: We've seen that one before.
MACCALLUM: Yes. Occasional he wears--
BENNETT: Well, he wears it but, you know, I think part of it is the Clintons don't think they should be asked tough questions. This has passed, they are above criticism. But you know, he should have expected this. I would have think -- thought he would have been better prepared for this question.
But you know, he's got to face the fact, we are in a different moment now. Let's think about this. The Monica Lewinsky time, it was a different moment for feminism. It was, I am women hear me roar, she's empowered, she's a woman. People would yes, but she's just a girl.
No, no, she's a woman, she can make her own decisions. Now Monica is coming to a realization, maybe I was taken advantage of. You sure were taken advantage of, you are also implicit in what you did.
But Bill Clinton doesn't think he should apologize for it now. He was wrong then, as I wrote in a book, and he is wrong now.
MACCALLUM: I mean, it's not going to get better for him.
BENNETT: No, it isn't.
MACCALLUM: Juanita Broaddrick is saying, what about my -- it's not as if you can pass it off as like, there was just this one affair. And maybe it was consensual as Monica. There's too many other things out there, it's going to be more and more difficult for him to go out there and do these interviews.
BENNETT: The more he appears the more he will hear this. And even, did you see the poll of the Democratic professors -- no, not all are Democrat professors, while they are all Democrats, saying you know, rating the president his standings has dropped by about 10 slices because of the Me Too movement. Now he's going to run into this everywhere and he has to face up to it.
MACCALLUM: That's some president rise over time and others fall.
BENNETT: That's right. And some get better.
MACCALLUM: Bill Bennett.
BENNETT: And some should disappear.
MACCALLUM: Observers of all things having to do with values and presidents and football and all of those things.
BENNETT: That's America.
MACCALLUM: Bill, thank you. It's always good to see you.
BENNETT: It's America. Thank you, Martha.
MACCALLUM: Great to have you here tonight. Thanks for being here in person.
BENNETT: Great to see you in person.
MACCALLUM: So coming up, new details just in on the surprising -- what a shock this was this morning. Fashion designer and icon, Kate Spade.
Plus, setting a new era for women, Miss America says they will scrap the signature event, the swimsuit competition. But should the beauty pageants even still exist really in this day and age it? We're going to talk to our own Shannon Bream, who is a former Miss America contestant and a smart woman, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MACCALLUM: Awful story tonight, fashion icon Kate Spade reportedly left behind a note to her daughter after her apparent suicide this morning telling the 13-year-old that it was not her fault.
The 55-year-old fashionista was found dead in her Manhattan apartment by her housekeeper.
Kate Spade was one of the first of a powerful wave of American female designers in the 1990s. Her brand is associated with bright, colorful prints and fantastic bags and it literally any young woman who grew up during this period was dying to have a piece of what Kate Spade was designing and making.
She was an inspiration to many. She was survived by her husband, Andrew, of 24 years. She just recently sold her business for a lot of money to coach. She has a 13-year-old daughter, Frances, and our thoughts are with them tonight.
What a terrible, terrible story that surfaced this morning.
Also developing this evening, tonight they are calling it now a competition and not a pageant. That is the new motto of the Miss America organization which announced today that they are banishing the signature bikini portion of the pageant. Instead, contestants will now take part in a live interactive session with the judges and the organization is also getting rid of the evening gown portion of the competition.
What is going to be left telling women that they should wear whatever makes wear uncomfortable. I think some people might show up in sweatpants in that case.
Is this enough or is these changes that shouldn't be happening? Shannon Bream, our good friend, joins us tonight. It's so great to be here with Tucker and Shannon and all these great people. She's 'Fox News @ Night' of course and a former Miss America contestant.
SHANNON BREAM, CORRESPONDENT, FOX NEWS: Yes.
MACCALLUM: Miss Virginia, Miss Florida. So many of these great people. I know you did not want to show any pictures of you from the pageant tonight. But let me tell you something.
BREAM: We might have found some, I don't know.
MACCALLUM: You, I mean, Shannon is gorgeous, and you won those contest for very good reason because you had it all going on. But it's very interesting to look back and see those. And you, I want to ask you this, so why do you not want to show them? What does that say about where you are with that?
(CROSSTALK)
BREAM: You know, it's so funny it was such a different time in my life.
MACCALLUM: Sure.
BREAM: And I'm completely proud of it. I love it. The Miss America pageant for me was a godsend because I won scholarship money through that that put me through school, undergrad, and a lot of my law school as well. And I didn't come from a family that have a lot of money a lot of means.
We were hardworking. A teacher and my dad was a cop. And so for me this was a really fun way to stretch myself. It was terrifying at times but it really pay for school for me so it was a great experience for me. I'm not sure anyone wants to see my swimsuit pictures now.
MACCALLUM: Please, let me tell you something. I was from New Jersey where pageants were really not that big but to win Miss Florida and Miss Virginia, where are all these gorgeous girls in Florida and Virginia, so you know, I mean, you did really, really well.
But I do have to ask myself, you know, are we passed this whole thing as a society? You know, as women, is this really, you know, is there another way to have a good scholarship contest in this country.
BREAM: Right.
MACCALLUM: Rather than did this, or, it should all be about, OK, they're gorgeous, you know, just like the bachelor and all the other stuff that's on TV.
BREAM: Right.
MACCALLUM: There is merit in beauty and that's a special attribute as well.
BREAM: Well, it's interesting because you know, Miss America started out years ago in the 20s on the boardwalk there in New Jersey. In Atlantic City, it was a swimsuit contest that the chamber of commerce the local business people came up with to keep people in town for another week or two around Labor Day. It was a really big event. And it evolved over time, so it's not just about swimsuits.
And they added talent and interview and evening gown and all these other things. You know, swimsuit now is still just a very tiny portion, and it's going away completely but it becomes such a small portion. I don't know that it ever really decided the winner ever any way.
So if they think it's a better idea now to say, we want people of all different shapes and sizes, and people may not have considered the pageant before it's going to be a competition now, it's going to be something different and we want more people to be included.
I think that's interesting. I'm all about tradition. And when I competed it taught me a lot about taking care of myself, having a cleaning up my college diet and learning how to work out. And it was grueling a year of serving as Miss Virginia leading it to the Miss America pageant. I was on the road all the time.
MACCALLUM: Yes. Let me tell you, you clean up the college diet because I was not cleaned from my college diet.
(CROSSTALK)
BREAM: Wait a minute, I was 19 years old, I'm 19 going on 90 in that blue dress.
MACCALLUM: That was the 80s, honey. That was like, you know what, everybody looks like they were decades older than they actually were. I think you look beautiful.
So you know, I just want to get your thoughts on this as well quickly before we go. Because also tonight, four former Houston Texan cheerleaders are suing the league for better pay and equal treatment. The women delivering their demands directly to the NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We hope that by delivering this letter to Roger Goodell today that he takes us seriously, and understands that we just want to be respected and treated fairly and compensated properly for the work that we do.
GLORIA ALLRED, ATTORNEY: They were all someone's daughter. They work hard. They care. They love the NFL. Let's see a little love coming back to them in terms of pay equity and working conditions.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACCALLUM: You've got to love Gloria Allred. But there again, you know, it's like do we need cheerleaders on the sideline, cheering on this something that women should be aspiring to at the stage of game?
BREAM: Well, also in my past days to be a labor and employment lawyer. So I think this is a really interesting case.
MACCALLUM: Yes.
BREAM: Now you can talk about equity with the players. Yes, they are making millions of dollars per year but they are also bringing in millions of dollars per year. Those are the reasons that people are buying tickets or to come to see them.
Now, if these women are alleging that they were paid minimum wage at times and then they were asked to go to appearances that they never got paid for but the teams got paid for to have them there, those are some interesting questions.
You are never going to make what an NFL player is going to make, and you shouldn't make anywhere near what they are making. But if they are not being paid for hours they worked, as a former labor unemployment attorney, that does concern me.
MACCALLUM: Yes. Absolutely. They are being told, you know what, if you don't want to do it, somebody else will.
BREAM: Right.
MACCALLUM: And we have a whole bunch of people who are dying to have your job which is always a bad employment argument.
BREAM: Yes. So I get where they are coming from. So there has been props. I'll give it to her, she always got a prop, you know.
MACCALLUM: Shannon, thank you so much.
BREAM: Good to see you.
MACCALLUM: You've got it all going on, even if you didn't win all those pageants, you are making the rest of us feel like, you know, whole slackers.
BREAM: Right. We'll get out our old pictures and we'll put them out them on twitter Martha and I. I'll see you at 11.
MACCALLUM: Thank you, Shannon. See you at 11.
So coming up next in a moment, a moment of history that many in this country will never, never forget.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Kennedy has been shot. Is that possible?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is that possible? It is possible, ladies and gentlemen. It is possible he had.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACCALLUM: Unbelievable. Tonight, there is new insight into what happened on board the plane that flew the body of Robert F. Kennedy home. We will talk to a Kennedy historian, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERT F. KENNEDY, FORMER UNITED STATES SENATOR: I think white and black, poor and rich, together, that we can work together. Not violence, not laws, not disorder, but compassion and love and peace. That's what this country should stand for.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACCALLUM: Tonight marks 50 years since the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy. The Democratic senator in the midst of a presidential bid gunned it down at the ambassador hotel in Los Angeles, just after the California primary and just two months after Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assassination.
My next guest has been digging back into this tragic moment in American history including the somber cross-country flight that carried RFK's body back east. On board, widows Ethel Kennedy, Jacqueline Kennedy and Coretta Scott King.
Joining me now, David Margolick, the man who writes about that historic flight in the Washington Post. He is also the author of "The Promise and the Dream: The Untold Story of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy," which is a fascinating topic all of it in its right. David, nice to see you tonight.
DAVID MARGOLICK, AUTHOR, THE PROMISE AND THE DREAM: Nice to see you, Martha.
MACCALLUM: It's just if there is so much symbolism and yet there's the reality that these three women flew back on a plane together after Bobby Kennedy's assassination. What do we know about what they said what they did on that flight?
MARGOLICK: I thought it was just the most extraordinary thing that these three women were on that flight and no one had written about it before. And I mentioned it in my book but I wanted to go even further than that. I thought there were some elaborating to do, so I dug down very deep.
I talked to the only surviving Secret Service man who was on the flight. I talked to any passengers I could find who were still around, and you know, there was -- there was one moment when these three women were actually standing or sitting in the same place on the flight and talking to one another.
And we'll never know what they said that. We can only imagine the kind of commiserating that went on in that one, five or 10 minute window when they were actually physically together.
MACCALLUM: I mean, clearly they shared something that no other women, no other people could share the horrific tragedy. And you talked about the tragic sense that that plane bore across the country with these three women on it.
MARGOLICK: Right.
MACCALLUM: And also it was mentioned that Jackie boarded the plane and sort of in a separate area and that she wanted to know that this was not the same plane that carried her back from Dallas?
MARGOLICK: Well, it's a little bit puzzling and it's another mystery to the story that all of that Kennedy's family got on the front of the plane with the casket and surrounded the casket and held hands as it was lifted into the front of the plane.
And Jacqueline Kennedy entered from the rear for whatever reason she wasn't part of the family unit. She sort of went in there and made a very separate entrance. She got on the plane as you say only after she was assured that it was not the same air force one. There are several different air force ones.
She had to be assured that it was not the same one that had brought her back with her husband's body from Dallas. And there was one moment when she wouldn't get out of the car actually until she got that assurance.
MACCALLUM: And what about the relationship of RFK Jr. who helped get Martin Luther King out of jail at one point.
MARGOLICK: Right.
MACCALLUM: But then also approved the wiretaps on him?
MARGOLICK: Well, it's a very complicated relationship. You know, I have the story in the New York Times this afternoon about the song Abraham, Martin and John and we like to think that these guys are tied together forever, the two Kennedys and Martin Luther King but their relationship was much rockier than that and much more complicated than that.
They were dependent on each other, they resented each other, they interacted all of the time, not literally directly, I mean, there is very little correspondence between them. There's not even really a good photograph of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy alone together. I mean, they kept their distance from one another but they were vital to one another's interests and they were completely interdependent really, and that's the story in the book that I was exploring.
MACCALLUM: Just before I let you go, you said we have to be careful not to canonize him. We should resist the temptation to canonize him, Robert Kennedy.
MARGOLICK: Well, I think we should resist the temptation to canonize anybody because very few people are saints. And Robert Kennedy is more interesting in fact because he wasn't the saint and because his attitude toward race and King and all of the staff varied and evolved over the years.
And he had his moments, he had his relapses. He was tolerant, he was intolerant, he was interesting. He was real.
MACCALLUM: The book looks fascinating. David, thank you so much for being here.
MARGOLICK: Thank you, Martha.
MACCALLUM: Good to see you tonight. We'll be right back with more of The Story.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MACCALLUM: So it's always good to be in D.C. but we are here tonight for a very special reason. Tomorrow marks 74 years since the D-Day invasion that ultimately save the world from Nazi Germany.
Earlier today, I had the honor of sitting down with two World War II veterans at the memorial, both of whom participated in operation overlord. Their story will air tomorrow night on this program and you don't want to miss it. Here's a sneak peek.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Seeing the wounded and some of the dead on the beaches was kind of tough situation. The scariest part and hurting part was landmines. There were thousands of trees and every tree the top of every tree was blown out, and they had planted antipersonnel mines throughout the entire forest and people were losing -- soldiers were losing their feet and they were horribly wounded from it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACCALLUM: Tucker is up next.
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