Corey Lewandowski: I don't know Carter Page

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Corey Lewandowski: I don't know Carter Page

Explosive new details emerging in testimony from former Trump campaign aide; former campaign manager responds on 'The Story.'

This is a rush transcript from "The Story," November 7, 2017. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

MARTHA MACCALLUM, HOST: Amazing show tonight, Bret. Thank you so much.

We pick up "The Story" from here. Breaking tonight, it is 7:00 p.m. in Virginia, where the polls have just closed in a closely watched a gubernatorial race between Republican Ed Gillespie and Democrat Ralph Northam. Too early at this stage, as we like to say on election night, to predict a winner. Fox News voter analysis, which is great stuff that we have put together for you tonight that we're going to show you, shows a very close race right now in the Old Dominion as it's known.

Also in New Jersey, Democrat Phil Murphy and Republican Kim Guadagno; their race has developed essentially into a referendum on Governor Chris Christie, who is as you know, one of the most unpopular governors in the United States of America. That's an interesting distinction. And we are keeping our eyes, of course, as well on New York City where Bill de Blasio is hoping for another term as he tries to be mayor once again of the nation's largest city in America. There's how that shapes up, but we begin with the big story tonight in Virginia.

Fox's Kristin Fisher, live at Northam headquarters tonight. We go first to Peter Doocy, who is at Gillespie headquarters in Richmond, Virginia. So, what's the good word over there, Peter?

PETER DOOCY, FOX NEWS CHANNEL REPORTER: Martha, the big reason that the Gillespie campaign has been getting so much national attention it's because he was a Republican trying to win without Trump. But tonight, a presidential robocall is spreading throughout the commonwealth where the president's voice is heard, telling voters that Ed Gillespie will help make America great again. Polls have shown that Gillespie is in second place, but closing in on the lead lately. And staffers I've spoken to today say they think his candidacy actually got a boost when the Northam supporting outside group, the Latino Victory Fund, released an ad showing Gillespie supporter, a fictional Gillespie supporter, trying to run over minority children with a pickup truck.

However, this new Fox News voter analysis finds that Virginians believe Gillespie made the most unfair attacks throughout the course of the campaign, more than the Democrat Northam. This analysis also finds that voters today prefer Gillespie on the economy, but two-thirds of Virginians say they think Virginia's economy right now is excellent or good, which is a contrast to what President Trump tweeted today, that they need to move away from Democrats because the economy has been terrible under Democratic rule. Now, for a look at the Democratic candidate's headquarters tonight. Our colleague Kristin Fisher.

KRISTIN FISHER, FOX NEWS CHANNEL REPORTER: Hey, Peter. Well, for a candidate who came into this race, the clear favorite, Ralph Northam is ending it uncomfortably close in the polls. You know, in the closing days of this campaign, he's been hit on the right by his component and by President Trump for being weak on crime, for being weak on second amendment rights, weak on veterans' issues. But he's also been hit by the far-left flanks of his own party for reversing decisions on -- reversing his stance on things like sanctuary cities and Confederate statues.

He's also been accused by some Democrats of running a rather lackluster campaign. In fact, many of them have compared it to Hillary Clinton's campaign, as being too establishment, is lacking enthusiasm, playing it too safe. And for just being, perhaps, a bit too old-fashioned for the Trump- era. But make no mistake, there's a lot on Northam's side tonight. This is the state that Hillary Clinton won by five points, almost exactly one year ago today. And President Trump remains deeply unpopular here in Northern Virginia, which is really just, you know, about a quick 20-minute drive away from Washington, D.C.

This is the only southern state that President Trump lost. So, throughout the course of this campaign, Northam has been trying to tie his opponent to President Trump's policies. He is expected to win, or he was at least at the beginning of this race, he is favored to win. The current outgoing Democratic governor says tonight that he believes he will win, but this race is very close tonight, Martha, and there's a lot of nerves here tonight.

MACCALLUM: No doubt. Kristin, thank you very much to you, and to Peter Doocy, who is over at Gillespie headquarters this evening. Joining me now, Karl Rove, Former Deputy Chief of Staff to George W. Bush, also a Fox News Contributor. And Chris Stirewalt who is in the house, Fox News Politics Editor. Gentlemen, welcome to both of you. Good to have you here. Chris, let me start with you. Tell everybody at home what they need to watch in Virginia tonight.

CHRIST STIREWALT, FOX NEWS POLITICS EDITOR: Well, basically Virginia is two states. We took the best part and put in the West Virginia. But what we left behind, you have Northern Virginia, which is basically a small, very affluent northeastern corridor state. Donald Trump lost it by 20 points or something, and then you have the rest of Virginia, which is about, I don't know, two-thirds of the vote in the state -- is a southern state, that if you took out Northern Virginia, Donald Trump would've won it by about three points, about the same margin that he won North Carolina.

So, now, you have a race between the voters of these two states, who can get the turnout going tonight? So, we'll be looking at those, ex-urban counties Loudoun, and Prince William, and the far outskirts, those of the swing counties. And then, we're also going to be looking for: can Republicans turn out in less populous world counties like they did for Donald Trump?

MACCALLUM: Karl, what you think about Ed Gillespie's strategy so far in this race? He distanced himself from the president in the early going, and, you know, as early as -- as late as today, I should say, make America great phone calls were going out.

KARL ROVE, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR AND FORMER DEPUTY CHIEF OF STAFF TO GEORGE W. BUSH: Well, I'm not sure, I'd say he distanced himself, what he tried to do is establish himself as a person with a vision and a plan for the future of Virginia. And he's issued 21 position papers, he has highlighted those with events, he's talking great detail about how it's going to cut taxes, grow the economy, reform state government, innovate.

It's been an amazing campaign of substance and that was to establish himself earlier this year as a candidate worthy of being the governor of Virginia. So, I'd say he spent more time on that than just simply try to either glom on to the coattails of Trump in places where he's popular, or to do what Ralph Northam did -- which is basically to make most of his campaign about how he was going to oppose Donald Trump in all things, whether they affected Virginia or not.

MACCALLUM: Yes. You know, we have these new Fox News voter analysis numbers that we're kind of pouring over here. Let's put up one of the most important issue facing the state, health care. This could be a national poll. I mean, this is what we see when we look at these numbers nationally, health care and then the economy. So, you know, you never know, Chris, with health care, whether people want to hang onto Obamacare, or whether they're really upset with Republicans for not overthrowing it.

STIREWALT: I think we have a pretty good sign in Virginia though, that the people who are most concerned about health care are northern voters -- I think are going to trend Democrat in that state. And this actually -- that interest breakdown is why I like our new research tool so much. That breakdown is reflective -- this is why we care about Virginia so much tonight. It is important, yes, but we care about it so much because it looks a lot like America. It has a lot of the same demographic and ideological and partisan splits that we see in the country, rich and poor, rural and urban, and all that stuff. And I think that's a lot of what you're seeing in America.

MACCALLUM: But Karl, obviously, President Trump lost in Virginia by about five points. This would be a huge upset if Ed Gillespie is able to pull this off tonight, right?

ROVE: Absolutely. And that's why, I'm not going to just look at counties, I think Chris had some good counties there. I'm going to be looking at the total turnout. In a presidential election, there is 70 percent of the registered voters turned out. In an off your gubernatorial election, 40 percent do. That the variations in turn out by area, by county are going to be important to look at. We also need to look at the growing part of the state.

Fairfax County, biggest county in the state, Northern Virginia, had 273,000 votes in '09; 306,000 votes four years ago. It'd be interesting to see how much larger it is this year to grow as part of the state. And then, I'm going to be looking at margins. It's not just whether they win them or lose them, but are they -- first of all, are they poaching? Ed Gillespie is going to try and get more votes than a Republican normally gets in Northern Virginia.

Northam is going to trying and get more votes in the Virginia Beach northern area where he's originally from, and where he has a military background. And then, we're going to see running up the totals. Ed Gillespie is going to this, I think, particularly to try and do this in Southwest Virginia. If you look down at the coal country, the area south of West Virginia, it was won by Mitt Romney, but Ed Gillespie won it in the Senate bid in 2014 but he didn't get the margins that Romney did. And then, Trump came and won that county just overwhelmingly. And the question is: is Ed Gillespie going to be able to get Trump-like margins in the southwest part of the state? Unlike the -- he became close.

MACCALLUM: Very interesting. We got to go, but just pop up the Confederate monument number because I find this interesting. Virginia has been a hotbed for this issue. All of the Robert E. Lee statues and Thomas Jefferson stay up, 63 percent, take them down, 31 percent. So, we'll see if that has any meaning -- when you look at the cultural side of this. Real quick, Chris.

STIREWALT: That's how you get a guy from New Jersey to fall in love with his Confederate heritage. Ed Gillespie didn't know what -- which side, the blue or the gray he really felt until I guess he was running for governor.

MACCALLUM: We've seen that happen with the Yankees when people like Hillary Clinton comes to New York. Thanks a lot, Christ.

STIREWALT: You bet.

MACCALLUM: Good to see you tonight. Karl, thank you very much. We're going to be watching this race throughout the course of this whole hour and we will keep you posted on every development where that is concerned. Coming up next, this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When you say that Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and former DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz stripped the party to a shell for their own purposes, what does that say?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACCALLUM: Donna Brazile, throwing new bombs today at Debbie Wasserman Schultz for living the high life of the Democrat donor's dimes, and that is not all folks. Stick around, former Congressman Jason Chaffetz and Zac Petkanas are here.

Plus, why did the head of Fusion GPS, who was paid by the Democrats at this moment in time, meet with the Russian lawyer, Veselnitskaya, directly before and after she sat down with Donald Trump Jr.? The fishy timing, and the latest on the Carter Page story as well. Former Trump Campaign Manager, Corey Lewandowski, weighs in on that.

And the Texas killer escaped a mental hospital; why was this criminal free to kill?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. HEATHER WILSON, SECRETARY, AIR FORCE: It should have been reported and put in the database, and that's why we have launched this complete, wide full-scale review of this case and of all others like it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MACCALLUM: So, right now, voting is wrapping up in several states as governor seats are up for grabs tonight in Virginia, which is closely watched race tonight. New Jersey, and also New York, as soon as we get the numbers rolling, we're going to put them up on the bottom of the screen, and we will keep you posted on that throughout the course of "The Story" tonight. It comes, of course, at a critical time for the Democratic Party, which appears to be having some issues, shall we say, in the wake of the bombshell new book by former DNC Chair Donna Brazile, who has gone after everybody from President Obama, to Debbie Wasserman Schultz, to Hillary Clinton over the course of all of this. Listen to this, this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I read the book, that you were upset with Robby Mook, certainly. You also sound very angry with Hillary Clinton.

DONNA BRAZILE, FORMER CHAIR, DNC: No, no.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The hacking was an issue.

BRAZILE: My emotions -- my emotions are my emotions, but there's no question that I was very upset at the time. Because, look, I'm chair of the party, I have a lot of skin in the game. I don't report to the Democratic establishment, I report to the voters.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACCALLUM: Chief national correspondent Ed Henry live at the White House tonight with the backstory. Hi, Ed.

ED HENRY, CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Martha, great to see you. Some top aides to Hillary Clinton are now lashing out at Donna Brazile, but she is bowing she will not be silenced, so the hits keep on coming for the Democratic Party. One of the most shocking revelations in this new book is that Brazile charges that Clinton staff was dominated by a small number of male aides who she claims exhibited sexist behavior to her.

Shocking, because you remember Clinton and her aides spent so much time in public talking about inclusion and shattering the ultimate glass ceiling while charging that then-candidate Donald Trump mistreated women. But Brazile writes that in private, top Clinton officials, like the campaign managers -- you just heard about Robby Mook -- behave differently. Nodded when she talks, but then not actually listening to her or following up on what they agreed upon.

It got so ugly that in one conference call, Brazile actually blurted to the male aides, "Gentlemen, let's just put our manhood out on the table and see who's the bigger one because I know that mine is bigger than all of yours." Remember, we already learned Brazile's account what happened after Clinton fainted at that 9/11 memorial event, which led the party chair to briefly consider changing the ticket.

That led Huma Abedin and dozens of other Clinton aides to sign an open letter to Brazile charging she was buying into Russian propaganda about Clinton's health. Brazile scoffs at all of that, so she just wanted basic respect from Clinton and her team while wishes that there was not so much turmoil right now ahead of the big gubernatorial races in places like Virginia and New Jersey.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)

BRAZILE: I also wanted the candidate in her campaign to respect the Democratic National Committee. I was an office of the DNC, and I felt that my job was to protect the Democratic National Committee, which meant all of the candidates, not just the presidential, but the down ballot candidates as well.

ROBBY MOOK, FORMER CAMPAIGN MANAGER FOR THE CLINTON CAMPAIGN: I'm sure Donna was under a lot of pressure from her publisher to put this book out right on this election week when we have critical elections happening around the country. I wish she just put her foot down and said no.

(END VIDEO CLIPS)

HENRY: Brazile, also unloading at her predecessor at the DNC, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, for carving out perks that kept her "fat and happy while the party was broke." Including a body woman to lead Wasserman Schultz around, and a giant Tahoe SUV with, yes, a driver. Brazile laments that Wasserman Schultz, Clinton and then-President Obama in her words, all had titanic egos who stripped the DNC down for their own purposes, leaving the party, and her suggestion, in shambles. Martha.

MACCALLUM: Ed, thank you very much. Ed Henry at the White House.

So, here now with more, Jason Chaffetz, former House Oversight chairman; he's now a Fox News contributor. And Zac Petkanas, former Senior DNC Advisor who also worked on the Clinton Campaign. Zac, so let me go to you first and get your reaction to all of this.

ZAC PETKANAS, FORMER SENIOR ADVISOR, DNC: I mean, look, I think that it is really unfortunate that it's coming -- that this book is being put out right before the election. I mean, was one of the Clinton campaign staffers that wrote a letter that talked about how -- that this is not the campaign that we recognize. Really, most anything that is displayed in the book, so I think it is just generally pretty unfortunate. There are large swaths of the book that have been debunked. Just -- I mean, just --

MACCALLUM: But what do you think her motivation is, why would she lie in her book?

PETKANAS: Look, I mean, I can't speak to her motivations. Donna Brazile is a friend, and I like her very much, but I do think that this is incredibly unfortunate timing and chose to do this especially right before the election.

MACCALLUM: So, you have no guess as to why -- you know, you're saying that she's not telling the truth.

PETKANAS: I'm saying that I think that it made for a good book, but that - -

MACCALLUM: She said she was disrespected by men on the campaign, she said that they would look at her and nod but not listen to her. He was so obsessed, basically, she said with his data. And you know, I mean, basically, they blew it -- they blew the campaign, so she's saying, look, wake up, folks because nobody listened to me and I knew what we should've been doing.

PETKANAS: I'm certainly not sitting here and diminish her experience on the campaign. What I can say is, though, a member of that campaign, that is certainly not the campaign that I recognize. And I think it is a little -- I think it is unfortunate that this is what Democrats -- some Democrats are talking about going into the election.

MACCALLUM: Jason, what do you think?

JASON CHAFFETZ, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR AND FORMER HOUSE OVERSIGHT CHAIRMAN: Look, it is pretty stunning, the gravity of it. Look, she was very revered. I mean, she had decades with the Democratic Party and revered enough to make her the chairman of the party. So, you've got to --

MACCALLUM: She came out in a pretty tough time, too.

CHAFFETZ: She came in and stepped in at a very, very difficult time. I think the most serious allegation is this joint fund-raising agreement, that may have been actually money laundering. I think one of her frustrations is she couldn't bring in impartial staff, that Clinton had signed this document basically saying I'll help you raise money but then you have to hire my people. Well, there are reasons why there are campaign contribution limits. You can't do that, that's called money laundering, and I think there's a real legal liability that she --

MACCALLUM: Zac is shaking his head, why is that?

PETKANAS: No, I mean, first of, the joint fund-raising agreements are incredibly common. Donald Trump had --

MACCALLUM: That is until after the nominee is picked, though.

PETKANAS: Well, no. That's not true. Donald Trump had one before he was the nominee.

CHAFFETZ: You can't bypass that and put in your own people.

PETKANAS: Well, first off, that has nothing to do with the actual agreement. There was a memorandum of understanding. That stated, and I will quote: "All activities performed under this agreement, we focus exclusively on preparations for the general election, not the Democratic primaries." This is an agreement that was extended to the Bernie Sanders campaign, they said that if they raised money into the DNC, that they could have a say in how that money was spent. They decided not to do that, but they did decide to complain about it afterward.

MACCALLUM: All right. Guys, I want to get your thoughts on this other issue today of the Comey draft statement. Back on May 2nd, 2016, he drafted a statement in the investigation of Hillary Clinton, saying that there was evidence to support a conclusion that Secretary Clinton and others used the private e-mail server in a manner that was grossly negligent with respect to the handling of classified material. He then came out on July 5th and used this phrase, watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES COMEY, FORMER DIRECTOR, FBI: There is evidence that they were extremely careless in their handling of very sensitive, highly classified information.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACCALLUM: So, Jason, why did grossly negligent become extremely careless, and what difference does it make?

CHAFFETZ: Well, within the statute, you don't have to prove intent, but that's where the FBI director continues to go is to say, well, we couldn't prove the intent. What's in the statute is gross negligence, so that begs the other question is: if that was the original statement, why did you take it out? And the other huge question I have is, why were you crafting a statement, weeks before you've even interviewed what ended up being nearly 16 people including the primary suspect herself, Hillary Clinton? If a judge had started to write his opinion before the trial was over, wouldn't we all look suspiciously at that and say, what in the world are you doing?

MACCALLUM: We got to go, and I want to give Zac one very quick response.

PETKANAS: I think you, guys, got to pick your attack on James Comey. First, it was that he was too hard on Hillary Clinton and that's why needs to be fired, but now it was that he was too easy on Hillary Clinton.

CHAFFETZ: There's no Democrat --

PETKANAS: I mean, you guys got to pick one of your nonsense attack lines.

CHAFFETZ: There's no Democrat that would vote to reconfirm Jim Comey. It should be --

MACCALLUM: All right. You know what, let me just say this, what we're talking about is very specific here, and it is a statute language, grossly negligent. So, it's a very legitimate question to say why would that language be removed from the statement several months later? It's a perfectly legitimate question to ask of the attorney general this evening. That's the head of FBI through and through.

PETKANAS: It is simply an attempt to undermine the FBI at a time when they are bringing down indictments on this one.

MACCALLUM: Just look at the language and a question why.

PETKANAS: And it's a hypocritical, given the way that the people were attacking James Comey.

MACCALLUM: I don't know why anybody would be afraid to ask questions about why the FBI director would change his language on something that. It's a perfectly legitimate discussion. Thank you very, you guys, good to see you both.

So, up next, more evidence of Clinton collusion, perhaps, is we have learned that the Russian lawyer, the center of the secret Trump Tower meeting spent time right before the Donald Trump Jr. -- with the man on the left, Glenn Simpson of Fusion GPS. Then, she met with Donald Trump Jr., and then she met up with Clinton again right after that. So, why would that be?

Former Trump campaign aide says that one of the president's closest advisors approved his controversial trip to Russia. Former Trump Campaign Manager, Corey Lewandowski, answers to that in a moment. Plus, President Trump, heading to China tonight for the most crucial leg of the Asia trip. General Jack Keane joins us live with his message that he says should be sent.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MACCALLUM: Breaking tonight, explosive new developments involving the Russian lawyer at the center of the controversial June 2016 Trump Tower meeting with Donald Trump Jr. Fox News confirming that Natalia Veselnitskaya met with the Fusion GPS Co-Founder, Glenn Simpson, before and after that meeting.

Simpson's firm is behind the anti-Trump dossier, which the Clinton campaign and the DNC paid for. So, this comes as we're getting a closer look at the former Trump Campaign Aide, Carter Page's testimony as well before the House Intel Committee. And Page claims that Corey Lewandowski knew about a trip that he was taking to Russia. Here's his testimony with Congressman Trey Gowdy.

I'm quoting here from the transcript. "Gowdy: If you were going to Moscow in July of 2016, who did you tell, why did you tell them, and what did you tell them? Page: I had mentioned to them it was Corey Lewandowski, and I believe Hope Hicks and J.D., that I had received this invitation, you know, and I just wanted to let you know. Gowdy: And how did they respond? Page: So, Corey said if you'd like to go on your own not affiliated with the campaign, you know, that's fine." But what Judge Jeanine asked Lewandowski about Carter Page back in March, he said this:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COREY LEWANDOWSKI, FORMER CAMPAIGN MANAGER FOR THE TRUMP CAMPAIGN: I've never met Carter Page. To the best of my knowledge, the president of the United States has never met Carter Page. Carter Page is a person who's going out and telling everybody that he was part of the campaign; he had no formal role in the campaign.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACCALLUM: For now, here's Corey Lewandowski, former campaign manager for Donald Trump. Corey, welcome, good to have you on "The Story" tonight. Thanks for being here. How do you reconcile those two things?

LEWANDOWSKI: Well, look, it's -- there is no reconciliation necessary because they're exactly the same thing that I told Judge Jeanine, which is what I'm telling you to the best of my recollection. I don't know Carter Page. To the best of my knowledge, Carter Page never had a Donald Trump.com email address. Had no formal role in the campaign that I'm aware of. Was never compensated by the campaign, and so when a low-level volunteer decides that they want to take a trip overseas and doesn't report to me or work for the organization, what jurisdiction would I potentially have of telling him or her they can't or could not travel overseas. All I was clear about was if you're going to travel, please do not pretend to be part of the campaign and say that you are part of the campaign because you are not.

MACCALLUM: So Corey, you do remember -- you say you never met him, but you do remember that exchange? You do remember him sending an email that said I'm going to take this trip and you said fine, just not as part of the campaign, is that right? You remember that?

LEWANDOWSKI: Well, no, you have to remember in the context of the campaign world, now my memory has been refreshed, but to be clear, from what I understand in what I recall, that email was sent on June 19th of 2016, so about 18 months ago, and it also happened to be father's day on a Sunday, and it also happened to be the date prior to me being terminated from the campaign. So with all due respect, there were many other things on my mind that day other than trying to understand why a volunteer was telling me he may or may not be traveling outside the country.

MACCALLUM: All right. But in retrospect, you say you do remember, you recall that, getting that from him?

LEWANDOWSKI: What I recall is now seeing that email, it's been brought back to my attention. I didn't recall it at the time.

MACCALLUM: All right. In terms of Papadopoulos, who is now cooperating with the feds, he sent half a dozen requests to member of the Trump team saying that he was trying to arrange meetings with officials in Russia, that Putin wants to host the Trump team when the time is right. He said in April of 2016. He forwarded a note from a Russian official, Putin would like to meet with Trump. Manafort is on record as saying we need someone to communicate that Donald Trump, D.T., is not going to make these trips. What do you remember about interactions with Papadopoulos?

LEWANDOWSKI: Again, you know, as the campaign manager, I wouldn't have had much interaction with George Papadopoulos. I mean, it's possible I met him in passing somewhere. And it's possible he sent me a series of emails. And from what we now have seen from his email exchange, it wasn't just about Russia, but he was asking to meet with a series of people, including the Greeks, and the Italian-Americans, and a number of other people, and this is a person who seemed to fancy himself as a person who had much more authority in the campaign than he ever had.

MACCALLUM: Let me ask you this.

LEWANDOWSKI: . other than being part of what seems to be one time he participated in a 30 minute discussion from the best of my knowledge.

MACCALLUM: So what do you think about the fact that he is, you know, now working with them, and that he could have been an informant for several months after he was arrested back in October? Does this concern you? You know, are they going to find that there's any connection between anyone in the Trump campaign and him trying to set up any kind of nefarious meeting, or even a dumb meeting on his part that he was sucked into because they want to use him?

LEWANDOWSKI: Look, I don't know. But from what has been reported, if he was lying to the FBI, and that's why he did a plea deal because he was arrested for lying to the FBI for not being truthful, then he should suffer the consequences of that. And I am very certain that there is no relationship between me as the campaign manager, and Donald Trump as the candidate, and George Papadopoulos that would have incorporated collusion, cooperation or coordination with Russia in any way, shape, or form to the best of my knowledge. So if he was lying to the FBI, which is a crime, then he should be accountable for those lies.

MACCALLUM: Understood. I want to ask you about this other issue which I mentioned in the introduction, which it's been revealed now that Glenn Simpson, who is the founder of Fusion GPS, who was paid by multiple campaigns over the course of this, but the Democrats at this point in the process, that he saw, Natalie Veselnitskaya, who very much wanted to secure this meeting with Donald Trump Jr., and we know now it was to talk about repealing a sanction, that he met with her beforehand and after that meeting. What do you make of that, Corey?

LEWANDOWSKI: What I make of it is if you listen to Dianne Feinstein, the senator from California, she said as her professional opinion as the ranking member in the intelligence committee, she's seen no collusion or cooperation between the Trump campaign and Russia, but we can't say the same about the Clinton campaign. The Clinton campaign has not publicly admitted that they spent millions of dollars to a spy overseas, an MI6 former agent to provide information and money to Russia to produce this dossier, the DNC as part of it. It seems to be that she might have had some cooperation with that through Fusion GPS. And so, there are some grave concerns about the Clinton campaign and their ability to funnel money to a spy from Great Britain so they can go and get information from Russia, which included Fusion GPS, of which she seems to have been meeting with now.

MACCALLUM: Well, the house intel committee wants a lot more documents from Fusion GPS, they're stonewalling them on this latest request, and we're going to stay on top of it. Very interesting element to this whole story. Corey, thank you very much, good to see you tonight.

LEWANDOWSKI: Thank you.

MACCALLUM: All right. So we're getting some early numbers in Virginia, and I should stress that they are very early numbers. You can see 10 percent of the vote is in, and that's how it looks right now. Ed Gillespie at 51 percent, Ralph Northam at 44 percent. There are many counties that have not come in, so we will continue to keep a close eye on these as they come across, and we will keep you posted as we got more. Coming up next.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: President Xi where we will be tomorrow, China, has been very helpful. We'll find out how helpful soon.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACCALLUM: President Trump sounding optimistic as he travels to China tonight with hopes of getting President Xi on board to try to stop the nuclear threat from North Korea. That is a very tall order, a delicate matter in so many ways. So who better than General Jack Keane to tell us what he thinks about this tonight?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MACCALLUM: We have brand-new video coming in from the president's trip in South Korea. We'll take you that in just a moment. But look at these numbers first of all. A 19 percent of the vote is in, and as you can tell it's tightening up quite a bit. It looks like a very tight race in the early going here, 49 percent to 50 percent with Ed Gillespie just slightly ahead. Nineteen percent of that vote in. We're going to get some analysis on that and look at the counties, what the importance is of what has been recorded, and what is still out there so we can give you a better sense of where this thing looks like it may be headed, and we'll do that in just a moment.

In the meantime, new video, as I said, in from South Korea, where the president attempted to travel to the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea. You saw Bret Baier there earlier with a fascinating package about what it is like to be right on that border. But we're told that bad weather moved in, and they turned the motorcade around. The president had said earlier that -- the White House rather, that they weren't going to do that trip, which a lot of presidents do make because they want to spend time with the troops in South Korea instead. So we'll see what came of that.

But tonight, as you know he is headed to China where he will begin his meetings with President Xi. Here now, General Jack Keane, chairman of the institute for the study of war, and a Fox News military analyst. General, what do you think about -- attempted the DMZ?

JACK KEANE, FOX NEWS MILITARY ANALYST: Well, I can understand it possibly. I've always thought it's overrated. The North Koreans take huge advantage of a president visiting the DMZ.

MACCALLUM: Oh, you mean a president going there.

KEANE: Oh, man. I mean, I thought the decision to go see the troops was a much better decision, and not give the North Koreans a photo op. I mean, this pressure around the president, oh, you got to go there and see this sort of thing. But I've been there a few times myself. It just doesn't measure up.

MACCALLUM: It's not a big deal.

KEANE: It doesn't measure up.

MACCALLUM: All right. So let's talk about the more important substance of this trip to China. And he has had a good relationship so far with President Xi. We've seen some movement from China that we didn't expect to see, but it's a long way to go.

KEANE: I mean this is the centerpiece of the trip.

MACCALLUM: Yeah.

KEANE: As much as you're going to go to two countries after that, this is really what the Far East trip is all about. I mean, this is the most important bilateral relationship the United States is going to have in the 21st century. And President Xi has more power, and more ambition, more strategic ambition to be the preeminent global power in the world and replace the United States. He wants to dominate Asia and the pacific for sure. He's coming close to it already. That's why the president is reassuring our allies that we're back, we're in the game. We're going to stand by you.

So he's got to go up there. He's got this incredibly delicate situation, Martha. He needs his help on North Korea. He's going to tell him you're not doing enough, I need it faster. I need more. At the same time, he's going to try to talk to them about Chinese aggression trampling all over our allies in the pacific and also our own interest. And he's going to talk to him about unfair trade and balances, the fact that U.S. companies can't compete so well inside of China. He's got to talk to them about cyber espionage, ripping off our intellectual property so much in the United States, so how he works that is really going to be statesmanship.

MACCALLUM: So talking about a chess for the art of the deal, right?

KEANE: That is a tough deal because he can't -- he needs his help, but in the same way he's got to put the other things on the table or Xi will walk out of there with a victory.

MACCALLUM: So it works both ways, too. Because China needs us economically, and they also don't really want a lot of trouble from North Korea. They don't want to deal with refugees pouring across their border from North Korea.

KEANE: Or a war.

MACCALLUM: Or a war. So there are common things that they both want, but I do find the most fascinating part of what you just said is his desire for world dominance. And Putin has the same desire. So you've got President Trump and President Xi and Vladimir Putin all fighting, and they're all strong characters, for the future of the world.

KEANE: Yeah. We've return to an era of big power competition again, which we're -- you're not old enough to realize it, but I am. And we're there and we're right in the middle of it. Putin can't get to world domination because he doesn't have an economy to support him, but China can.

MACCALLUM: Fascinating,

KEANE: And we're on a collision course.

MACCALLUM: General Jack Keane, we'll be along for the ride with you by our side. Thank you very much, good to see you, general. So coming up tonight, we'll get you some brand new numbers on the race in Virginia as we continue to watch these come in, 19 percent, 49-50. Very tight in the very early going here, and we're going to get some analysis on these numbers. Chris Stirewalt will join us and tell us which counties are in, what these numbers really mean in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MACCALLUM: It is election night again in America, folks. You've got Virginia, New Jersey, and the mayor's race in New York City. The one that is the most interesting, because it looks like it could get interesting is Virginia. Ralph Northam is at 50 percent, and Ed Gillespie at 49 percent, 27 percent of the vote is in.

And Chris Stirewalt is back on deck with us. Mollie Hemingway is also joining us now, senior editor of The Federalist. So Chris, let me go to you first, what do (INAUDIBLE) in these numbers for us, what do they say?

CHRIS STIREWALT, FOX NEWS: Well, it's still quite early. Now we are seeing signs of quite a lot of turn out, and I mean like a lot of turnout both in.

MACCALLUM: Who was that good for?

STIREWALT: Well, it depends on where it is. And we are seeing a ton of turnout in places like Northern Virginia and Charlottesville, which will be good for Northam. But at the same time, places in rural Virginia are keeping pace, at least with 2013 levels that they had. And remember, people forget about this in 2013, this is actually true. That in 2013 when they had the last race, Ken Cuccinelli, who was written off by many got within 2.5 points of Terry McAuliffe in this contest. So I would just say this, Virginia likes close races, and we're going to keep watching this.

MACCALLUM: Mollie, what do you think?

MOLLIE HEMINGWAY, THE FEDERALIS: Yeah. This commonwealth is difficult to poll, but it does seem like Northam was heading into this with a solid lead. This is a blue state. It seems to get bluer every year. So he really should be able to pull this off. But there were so many things about this race that made it seem -- I mean, Ed Gillespie is a strong candidate. He almost won when he ran last time a few years ago for the senate. He has -- he's a little bit more favorable than most Republicans are in northern Virginia, which is lobbyist-heavy because Ed Gillespie himself is from that part of the economic sector. And then, of course, Ralph Northam did that.

(LAUGHTER)

MACCALLUM: The economic sector. You mean the huge swamp that drives real estate prices through the roof in the metro area around Washington, D.C.?

STIREWALT: Lobbyist people too.

HEMINGWAY: Having just purchased a house, I can assure you that's exactly what I mean. But Ralph Northam coordinated on that ad where he basically accused all Republican voters of running down immigrant children, and that seemed to also spark some interest. I heard many neighbor say that they would crawl over broken glass to vote against him after that ad ran. So I think Northam should win, but I do think it will be close.

MACCALLUM: You know what? I think we have a poll of what people thought of that ad, and just to remind everybody because we did that story the other night and we showed, you know, it's like an SUV, a black-window SUV with a big confederate flag on it, and it's ripping down neighborhood street, and little children are running in panic and fear for their lives, and there's a small black child, a Hispanic child, they grab their friend who is a Muslim girl. And the suggestion is that Gillespie is going to run you out of town. Chris, how does that go over with voters do we think?

STIREWALT: Obviously, it wasn't very good because they pulled it in about a day. This has been a heinously ugly race. Steve Bannon, the president's former strategist calls Ed Gillespie Trumpism without the Trump. And if Gillespie can find a way to win in Virginia using these issues, immigration as a top issue, but also crime, crime, crime. Crime works great for Gillespie in Northern Virginia where there's a large central -- Latin American population, MS13, talked about crime, talk about immigration. That works really well for him there. He had ads that is focus on that. That ads talking about sex crimes against children that I actually couldn't let my sons watch, it was so shocking. The ads in this race have been pretty garbage.

MACCALLUM: Yeah. Let's talk about New Jersey for just a moment. The polls close there at 8:00. Do we have the Chris Christie sound bite you guys from today? All right. This is Chris Christie when he went to vote today in vintage Chris Christie form. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE, R-N.J.: You're to sit here and complain. It's easier.

UNINDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't have the money like you?

CHRISTIE: Oh, really? I'm sure. I'm sure. Easier to sit here and complain. But you know what? That's the joy of public service. It's serving folks -- it's serving folks -- yeah. It's serving folks like you that is really such a unique joy. It really is. You're fabulous. Any other questions?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACCALLUM: That's my home state, I know you're talking about West Virginia before, but that is just vintage bada bing there, right?

STIREWALT: Bada bing, see you later.

MACCALLUM: You know, talk about New Jersey for a moment here, Chris.

STIREWALT: Well, look, Chris Christie is, as you mention earlier, arguably the least popular governor in the United States, and he seems to revel in it to a certain degree that he likes being the guy that they don't like, sort of being the heel, and kind of digs it. I think he's down with that. I think his lieutenant governor probably wishes that his numbers were a little better, but New Jersey is a state that does likes to flip-flop its governorship.

MACCALLUM: This is true, Kim Guadagno. And the race is far from over in New Jersey, as we know. But Molly, you know, your thoughts on sort of the situation that Chris Christie was in, and maybe put his lieutenant governor in?

HEMINGWAY: Yeah. Chris Christie might be dragging down his side of the ticket there. But I think what's interesting about all these races is what it teaches us about how people are going to run in the next year. And again, I think, you know, as Chris said, what Gillespie did here by creating a coalition of establishment Republicans and Trumpites or Bannonites, and really making that work from him whether or not he wins. That is a way forward for Republicans. And so I think you're going to see people taking lessons from all of these local races, these state races, and see how they can make it work for them next time around.

MACCALLUM: But Chris, you know, he didn't embrace President Trump in the early stages of this. There was no Trump-Ed Gillespie rally happening in Virginia, which I would imagine the president would have been happy to do if he had asked for it. Why not?

STIREWALT: Well, look, it's fraught because we're talking about before, Virginia is two states. You have Northern Virginia, which is a Democratic state with a strong lien where Donald Trump only got about 35 percent of the vote in 2016. Then you have the rest of the state where if you put it altogether Donald Trump would have won it by three points. Donald Trump can help you a lot in Southwestern Virginia, if you go out to Wytheville, if you go out to Roanoke, he can help you a lot out there in Appalachian, Virginia, but he can't help you in the other side and most of the votes. And this is really the problem for Republicans in Virginia going forward. Most of the votes are up there in Northern Virginia.

MACCALLUM: But are we going to see rural turn out like we saw in the national election? Do you think people are fired up in some of those areas where they weren't before? Mollie, your thoughts on that?

HEMINGWAY: Well, I think you're going to see -- I mean, we'll just have to wait and see. You don't know too much from exit polls or even earlier results. But I do think it's worth noting Mike Pence did campaign for Ed Gillespie, and much of the way that Ed Gillespie ran reminded me of how Mike Pence ran in the general last year for the presidential election. There are a lot of people who support Donald Trump as president, who might not support his style, who are very into the conservative principles, and they don't -- it's just as important as it is that Ed Gillespie didn't campaign with Trump. It's also important that he didn't run against Trump. And I think that that is the healthy balance we're going to see a lot of Republicans do.

MACCALLUM: All right. We've got to go. Surprisingly close at this moment would you say, Chris?

STIREWALT: Nah.

MACCALLUM: Nah.

(LAUGHTER)

MACCALLUM: All right. We're going to take a quick break, we will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MACCALLUM: We are back with more of "The Story." And here's how the numbers are shaping up in Virginia tonight, 40 percent of the vote is in, Ralph Northam at 51 percent, Ed Gillespie at 48percent, as we wait for the other 60 percent of this. It is looking like a pretty tight race. And it's looking like turnout is pretty strong as well. So we'll continue to follow this throughout the course of this evening as the election season gets rolling again. Stay with Fox News and foxnews.com. Tucker Carlson is coming up next. See you tomorrow at 7:00.

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