Gov. Rick Scott: GOP health care bill a great starting point
Florida governor weighs in on reform efforts on 'The First 100 Days'
This is a rush transcript from "The First 100 Days," March 8, 2017. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
SHANNON BREAM, FOX NEWS AMERICA'S NEWS HEADQUARTERS ANCHOR: Breaking tonight, you are looking live inside dueling House Committee rooms. As the battle rages over the new GOP health care bill, the divide setting up what could be a nasty fight that our Capitol Hill producers are telling us could continue deep into the evening, maybe until the sun comes up.
I'm Shannon Bream in for Martha MacCallum, on day 48 of the first 100. The backlash only growing stronger from the conservative wing of the Republican Party. As the American Health Care Act finds itself in what's known as these markup sessions where lawmakers can offer up changes and amendments. Some of those changes may be necessary as today was full of back-and-forth between the White House and Capitol Hill.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PAUL RYAN, UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES SPEAKER: Are we going to do what we said we would do? Are we going to repeal and replace ObamaCare with something better? This is the covenant that we made with the American people when we ran on a repeal and replace plan in 2016.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're designing a system that is not going to lower costs, and that's the big - that's the big deal.
SEAN SPICER, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: By removing the mandate of a government-mandated, you must buy this program or you will pay a penalty, and eliminating choice, we are enacting, I think, a very strong conservative values in health care that give all Americans more choice at a lower cost. So, I think that should be a very positive message.
Make no mistake, the president is very proud of the product that we have produced. We are out in full sell mode.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to try to make this bill better if we can, but right now, where it is, it is not - it's not what we told the voters we were going to do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BREAM: Tonight, as President Trump finds himself in sell mode, we'll dive deep into the divisions inside this debate. David McIntosh, President of the Club for Growth is here. He just met with the president within the last hour. He's going to tell us whether he was convinced by Mr. Trump's pitch.
Then, Governor Rick Scott (INAUDIBLE) of meetings with the HHS Secretary Tom Price and Speaker Paul Ryan is here to tell us why he thinks the bill is a good start. But we began with Chief Congressional Correspondent Mike Emanuel live on the Hill. Hi, Mike.
MIKE EMANUEL, FOX NEWS CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Hi, Shannon. Yes, it's been a long day for lawmakers. There's the two relevant committees getting a first crack at this Republican health care package. This hour, lawmakers in the House Energy and Commerce Committee continue the work on this bill. Democrats have accused the Republican colleagues of trying to rush the bill through before they've gotten an assessment of the price tag and overall impact from the Congressional Budget Office.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My inquiry is, again, if I can state it, if you'll let me state it, is that after the last two months of reputedly saying we were going to use regular order; that we were not going to try to jam things down --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The gentlemen have a parliamentary inquiry.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now you are proceeding to do exactly that. OK?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, what's your inquiry?
EMANUEL: There's also the fight among Republicans. Some conservatives came out strongly against the package yesterday. Last night, President Trump tweeted that he feels sure his friend, Senator Rand Paul will come along with this new and great health care program and the Senator offered this response.
SEN. RAND PAUL, R-KENTUCKY: I do agree with the president, and I talked to him this week. I agree that ObamaCare is a disaster, and I agree that we should repeal it. And so, I think that's where the unity is. And then, you know, we're going to have to have a debate over a replacement.
EMANUEL: Fox News has confirmed in the house Republican conference meeting with Steve Scalise today, asked members if they're with the president on health care or with House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi.
NANCY PELOSI, UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MINORITY LEADER: I think they should be with their constituents, and their constituents have a lot to lose if they go along with this. It's interesting to see the figures of the people who supported President Trump who are on the Affordable Care Act.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
EMANUEL: White House officials say the president is in sell mode, and many sources up here on Capitol Hill say that will be critical to getting this done. Part of that term offensive is expected to include Budget Director Mick Mulvaney inviting members of the conservative freedom caucus to the White House next Tuesday night for a little pizza and bowling. Shannon?
BREAM: Bit of a bowling summit. All right, Mike, thank you very much for the update.
Joining us now, David McIntosh, President of the Club for Growth who yesterday called the GOP health care bill, a "warmed over substitute for government-run health care".
Now, he just met with the president. So, did his pitch work, the president's? Or, David, let's find out. Welcome. How did the meeting go? You've been no - you know, there's been no secret that you've been a big critic.
DAVID MCINTOSH, THE CLUB FOR GROWTH PRESIDENT: Right. Right. No - and we shared those concerns, criticisms of the bill, with the president. I can say, I was encouraged, because he was listening. Yes, he was selling, he said, "We've got to get something done. I'm pushing you and the Congress to get a bill through, so that we can repeal ObamaCare." But we pointed out that the house bill isn't the best vehicle for doing that. They don't fully repeal ObamaCare and they keep some of the taxes that he passed. They keep the expansion of Medicaid.
And the worst thing for us, is they don't create competition across state lines. So, people will end up spending as much as they do now on their health insurance bills. And the promises that Republicans made were, we're going to repeal it so there'll be competition, free market, and you can pay less and get better health care.
BREAM: I know that you're not convinced. This doesn't -- that in any way, a lot of people -
MCINTOSH: No. And the most encouraging thing, Shannon, was the president and his team said, "Yes, we get it, this bill needs to be changed." And so, we encouraged him. "Go push them to change it, and then we want to work with you to pass a better bill."
BREAM: Well, you mentioned selling across state line, it's been something people have really been looking forward to. When the criticism first bubbled up, the president tweeted out, "It's coming in phase two and three. We're going to get to that." Are you confident that will happen?
And also, you know, we had on Congressman Kevin Brady, the chair of one of the committees that is tackling this right now. And I pressed him on whether or not they're going to let people make substantive amendments. Because I know for you and for others that (INAUDIBLE) concern, you want to know that that input is going to be taken. Are you convinced from your meeting with the president tonight those thing will happen?
MCINTOSH: So, I'm convinced the president is going to push for it. I am not convinced the house leadership is really taking input from conservatives. They haven't from the beginning, and that's the mistake they're making on this bill. I think what they should do is allow amendments to fully repeal ObamaCare, and then work from there to bring back a free market bill and a process that will benefit all Americans, because health insurance will be cheaper, and they won't have to have all of these constraints and mandates that the ObamaCare bill does. Keeping a lot of that is the big problem with the house bill that they're working on now.
BREAM: Well, yes. And it's got a price tag. We all know it's not free. But I want to quickly ask you, where do you come down on the issue of -- we had Senator Lee on last night, Congressman Jim Jordan there talking about reintroducing the full ObamaCare repeal that passed in 2015, which obviously President Obama didn't sign. Would you support that as a different vehicle?
MCINTOSH: So, I think that's the one you could easily pass in both houses. Once they start making changes and Ryan starts adding things back into -- that it look like ObamaCare, then you start losing votes.
So, yes, I think that's a good starting place for them. I think they could take the Ryancare bill and, you know, get rid of the changes that keep ObamaCare provisions and then the Ryancare bill could be good bill, too. There are - there are some good things in there that could move forward.
BREAM: OK. I see that you've adopted the moniker that a lot of folks that don't love the bill are now calling it Ryancare. This morning, I had a debate over calling it Trumpcare. So, we will see. But thank you for giving us some intel and insight into your meeting with the president, and keep us updated.
MCINTOSH: Yes, I'm encouraged by the president pushing them to keep changing until they get a good bill and then send it to him.
BREAM: OK. David McIntosh, thanks.
Here now, Florida Governor Rick Scott had met with HSS Secretary Tom Price over the weekend, and Speaker Paul Ryan today. And Governor, I know you spent a lot of time meeting with the president one on one, talking about this as well. What do you make of what we have so far? Is it workable; is it good foundation; would you pass it as it's written now?
RICK SCOTT, UNITED STATES GOVERNOR FROM FLORIDA: Well, Shannon, you know my background. I ran the largest hospital company in the country, and my family grew up without health care. So, this is very important to me. And we know ObamaCare is an absolute mess. The president inherited a mess.
So, I'm encouraged that we're having real conversations here. I'm going to fight to make sure it's fair to Floridians, but I'm encouraged that there's conversations, and I'm going to continue to work to make sure we - you know, I wanted to make sure we get a bill that's fair to Floridians, and make sure people have access to health care.
You know, Shannon, the problem here is, costs are too high, so whatever we pass has to focus on costs.
BREAM: Well, what do you say to those who -- they don't see any evidence in this bill that it actually changes or bends that cost curve down? They're not convinced.
SCOTT: Well, look, it's - we've got to focus on cost. If you - if you look at -- access is 100 percent tied to cost. If consumers can't afford health care, or companies can't or tax payers can't, we're not going to fix health care. And that's what - that's my focus is. Now, on top of that, you know, whatever we do, I've got to fight for Florida, and I'm going to.
BREAM: OK. Let's talk about Medicaid, because Florida did not take the Medicaid expansion, that's one of the really highly-contested issues, and all of this due over health care. There are some senators who are conservative GOP senators, who say, "Listen, if you don't keep the Medicaid expansion going, it's been critical in my state, I -- you may lose my vote over this."
There are conservatives who say, "We don't even like that the Medicaid expansion is continuing for three years." Where do you come down on this? Because you made a very bold choice that you thought was the best for your state, and he's taking heat over it.
SCOTT: Sure. Well, look, we know - we know that the way they've done ObamaCare, it's not sustainable, costs have gone up, taxpayers are not going to be able to pay for it, it's caused all of our premiums to go up. So, it's got to be - it's got to be repealed. But in the meantime, we've got - I've got to fight for Florida, and I'm going to fight for Florida to make sure it's fair to Florida. We didn't do with the expansion because we knew it was not sustainable. So, I've got to make sure that whatever passes is fair to our state.
Now, I want people to get access to health care, but it's - we've got to - like you said before, we've got to focus on the cost side.
BREAM: OK. So, what about across state lines? Is that something you support?
SCOTT: Oh, absolutely. That - if you look at it, you want to drive down health care costs, a lot of people buy whatever insurance they want, don't tell them what to buy. Make sure you have more competition. Part of that is still across state lines, and reward for - reward people for taking care of themselves. Those three things will drive down costs.
BREAM: What do you make of the tax credits? People - you know, conservatives, especially the freedom caucus and others say, it's just another word for an entitlement, and that's not something they can vote for.
SCOTT: but here's what you have to remember, this is way better than ObamaCare. Whatever -- this bill -- if this bill passes, it's way better than ObamaCare. I think there's a lot of things we can improve on. I want people to have access to health care; I want them to be able to afford health care. So, I think, you know, this is a great starting point. And I know we're going to keep working on it.
BREAM: All right. Florida Governor Rick Scott, always good to chat with you. Thank you, sir.
SCOTT: Bye, Shannon.
BREAM: All right. Breaking at this hour, the FBI on the hunt for a mole inside the CIA. As the nation's top spy agency makes a very rare statement about this latest massive leak of classified information.
Ahead, former CIA contractor Dr. James Mitchell, the man who personally interrogated the mastermind of 9/11, on the dangers these leaks pose to our nation.
Plus, a California mother of two struck and killed by an intoxicated driver, we're now learning he was known to be in the country illegally, deported five times previously. We'll debate that case just ahead.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JUANITA HERNANDEZ, SISTER OF SUSANA DUMITRU: Knowing the history that he had with the DUIs and so forth, they expect a slap in the hand and sent back, and he came back. And it shouldn't have been done like that. That shouldn't nothing been done like that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BREAM: Breaking tonight, U.S. Intelligence officials confirming that the FBI is on the hunt for a mole inside the CIA. Less than 36 hours after WikiLeaks apparently exposed this secret cyber spying tools of the Central Intelligence Agency. The FBI launching an investigation to find the person who leaked the sensitive classified information as they search for the next Manning or Snowden.
In a moment, we're going to be joined by former CIA contractor, Dr. James Mitchell, the man who personally interrogated 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. But first, we begin with Chief National Correspondent Ed Henry live in Washington with new details. Hi, Ed.
ED HENRY, FOX NEWS CHANNEL CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Shannon, good to see you. We're told that the leak involves the entire hacking capacity of the CIA. That's barked an embarrassing revelations about how the agency has the capacity to break into our smartphones, consequently turn smart T.V.s into microphones that record our conversations, and could actually kill someone by hacking into a car that's connected to the internet.
Now, the CIA has just released a statement acknowledging that this is a very damaging leak, of course, that could jeopardize American personnel and operations. The CIA also insisting while they have these tools, they are not using them to spy on Americans. A spokesman declaring, quote, "It is also important to note that the CIA is legally prohibited from conducting electronic surveillance targeting individuals here at home, including our fellow Americans, and the CIA does not do so. CIA's activities are subjected to rigorous oversight to ensure they comply fully with U.S. law and the constitution. Now, the White House, meanwhile today, also jumped into the fray.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEAN SPICER, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: We will go after people who leaked classified information. We will prosecute them to the full extent of the law. This is -- playing with our nation's national security is not something that should be taken lightly under this administration.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HENRY: That company is also scrambling tonight. Apple declaring about 80 percent of their users have the most updated operating system that fixes vulnerabilities, while Samsung simply said privacy is a top priority for them. As for the CIA hunt for the mole that you mentioned, an intelligence official tells our own Catherine Herridge, there are three scenarios: an insider who's either an employee or a contractor, or a network cyber breach, or some combination of the two. Shannon?
BREAM: All right. Ed Henry is live in Washington. Thank you.
Here now, Dr. James Mitchell, author of "Enhanced Interrogation: Inside the Minds and Motives of the Islamic Terrorists Trying to Destroy America". Dr, thanks for being with us tonight.
JAMES MITCHELL, FORMER CIA CONTRACTOR AND AMERICAN AUTHOR: Thank you for having me on.
BREAM: OK. So, we understand that there is now officially a federal criminal investigation. How in the world do they go about tracking this down? I mean, I asked our inside research brain room team to tell them, how many contractors are at the CIA? They couldn't break it down by CIA, but they said within the Intelligence Community as a whole, at least 27,000.
MITCHELL: Well, your assumption is that it's a contractor, right? Because that's what it's been in the past, but it could be anyone.
And the other question that you asked me about how they are going to go about tracking these folks down, I really don't think we should talk about that. At least people who know shouldn't be talking about that, because the very reasons that we don't want the hacking tools released is, we don't want them to know the methods that we're going to use. But what we need to do is relentlessly hunt these folks down, because they are not just placing American personnel at risk, they're placing American lives at risk.
BREAM: OK. So, if not a contractor, are you saying that maybe you do believe it was a cyber-breach from outside? From maybe a foreign actor or state actor?
MITCHELL: Well, it could be an employee, it could be a cyber-breach, it could be -- it could be a small band of people. One of the things that we've done in this country that disturbs me a little bit, is we've romanticized this subculture of hackers to the point that they've become almost a tribe, where they've become cult heroes, and that the cool thing to do is to get into the hard places to get into, and then to sort of, you know, give people a peek into their underwear drawer, so to speak, right?
And so, that's somehow become a way of counting coup or taking scalps, and that's a problem. And particularly, if it is an employee of the government, or a contractor, or it's some sort of a breach, we need to find that, we need to find those people, and we need to stop them.
BREAM: Who benefits from this?
MITCHELL: Who benefits? Criminals benefit, terrorists benefit. I want you to imagine the situation in which -- now, they're talking about doing more releases, and if they release the source code, that is particularly dangerous. Because not only would criminals have that but the bad guys would have that as well.
Every day somebody from Al-Qaeda and ISIS gets up and tries to figure out some way to kill Americans here in the United States. Imagine if they could launch a catastrophic attack simultaneously with some sort of cyber-war-weapon attack as well. It makes us incredibly vulnerable.
A second side effect of this thing is -- I know a lot of people have criticized me because of my involvement in interrogations. One of the weird side effects of releasing this kind of information is you make people like me that much more necessary. Because we have this -- these surreptitious, clandestine ways of getting information without directly questioning people. Now you revealed all of that, and so it's going to be harder to do that because they're going to protect themselves. And if they can go invisible, then they can plan attacks.
BREAM: Yes or no, are you confident that our investigation launch by the FBI will find the person or persons responsible?
MITCHELL: They will if they're not politically correct about it. You know, I know that there are those on the left and on the right who, like I said, glamorize these leakers like Snowden and Manning as if they were some kind of culture heroes or some sort of cult heroes. And I think that's a mistake. They are traitors. They should be treated like traitors because it's not just the CIA personnel, or the Intelligence Community personnel, or the military personnel, or our state department people who are in danger. It is American lives and American citizens.
BREAM: All right. Doctor, thank you very much for your insight. We appreciate it.
MITCHELL: Thank you, ma'am.
BREAM: All right, here now, Ari Fleischer, a former Bush White House Press Secretary, and Marie Harf, a former CIA officer and spokesperson and a Fox News Contributor. Good to see you both.
MARIE HARF, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR AND FORMER CIA OFFICER AND SPOKESPERSON:
Good to be here.
BREAM: OK. Marie, how do you begin to tackle this issue? Because now the CIA is having to talk about things, although they are not publicly confirming or denying the authenticity of this material, they're having to talk about sources and methods. I know that others are talking about it, our enemies are seeing it. How do you stem the bleeding essentially at this point?
HARF: Well, it's a huge problem. And the CIA statement that you just read is an important one because it made several points that Americans need to realize. Nothing in this set of documents that was put out talks about anything directed against Americans. It puts out information about activities that, quite frankly, we believe the CIA should be doing, going after terrorists, going after criminal drug gangs, going after people trafficking in person. So, there's nothing in this trove that was directed against Americans. That's important. But this also does an incredible damage to this country. You know, the doctor was absolutely right in your previous interview. The bad guys now have information about how we go after them, and that is a problem. And I have faith that the FBI and the Intelligence Community will find eventually whoever did this. And they absolutely -- this is -- this is a problem.
BREAM: Well, and Ari, what concerns does this raise for our allies who shared classified information with us and count on us to be a partner against the bad guys?
ARI FLEISCHER, FORMER BUSH WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Shannon, great question. When this happen, that's one of my first thoughts, as for anybody who works with us, who says, "We can work with Americans and trust the Americans because we know that we can put our lives in their hands." This makes them scratch their head and say, "We want to work with the Americans, but is it safe for us to do so?"
Look, this is a calamity. And I think Dr. Mitchell made a very good point when he stated that we cannot celebrate with Edward Snowdens of the world. They are some of the lowest, most viable criminals. There is nothing lofty about what they are doing. They put our country at risk, they put Americans at risk, and they should not be celebrated. They need to be condemned. And one of the only things that I really hope comes out of -- President Trump can have some type of report with Russia. Either they return Edward Snowden to us so he can go on trial and get what he deserves.
BREAM: Marie, do you also think it's time for him to publicly renounce and call out WikiLeaks? Because, you know, he at one point said, "I love WikiLeaks," and he joked about it some on the campaign trail, it made comments. They are not doing things to benefit the United States of America. And a lot of people think we haven't done enough to go after them, to shut them down, to come up with real punishment for people who are feeding them information. What would you like to see from the White House on this?
HARF: Absolutely. I think a full denunciation of WikiLeaks. There were a lot of national security experts. You're absolutely right. Over the summer, over the course of the campaign, both Republicans and Democrats, who were very uncomfortable with how Donald Trump embraced WikiLeaks because they were helping him politically with releasing Hillary Clinton's e-mail. WikiLeaks is an organization that had already done damage to United States with the Chelsea Manning documents. They are an organization that is trying to undermine U.S. security. And I want the White House to come out and fully, you know, criticize them, denounce them, and make clear that what they're doing is completely abhorrent and they will find the source inside the government of these leaks. Absolutely.
BREAM: And Ari, is this a golden opportunity now for the president to step out on this particular issue? I mean, you've been at the -- at the heart of communications out of the White House.
FLEISCHER: Yes, the president is in a -- in a jam and he put himself there on this issue. You know, this is the same president who called on Russia to release even more information to WikiLeaks. Look, I was always uncomfortable with Russia interfering in our election and finding WikiLeaks -- a group that I think is notoriously terrible -- to be a conduit for what he wanted to do. And it happened to benefit him -- Donald Trump politically.
So, that's a route that I think is close to him, unfortunately, because of choices he made earlier. But look, the WikiLeaks is not the issue here. The issue here are traitorous Americans who have done this -- I presume that they are Americans -- but people who are associated contractors, employees at the CIA, in most likelihood. And I'm stunned that this could happen twice, that had happened at the national security agency and then it happened here at the CIA. There's got to be a better way to protect our assets and our information. It bothers me from the inside that it could happen more than once.
BREAM: Yes. And WikiLeaks tweeted out today. They've only released one percent of what they have from the CIA. So, we will stand by. Ari, Marie, good to see you both.
HARF: Thanks.
BREAM: Well, stories still breaking tonight that you will not want to miss. An alleged Iraqi insurgent entered the U.S. with a fake I.D. Lawmakers now calling for an explanation as the shocking details unfold. We've got those just ahead.
Plus, two unthinkable crimes allegedly at the hands of illegal immigrants: one involving a young man now charged in the gruesome decapitation of his own mother, the other, claiming the life of a mother of two who was struck by an illegal immigrant who was driving, allegedly under the influence. David Wohl and Richard Fowler are here on those cases next.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So much was taken away from us that it's a pain you cannot describe, you know, and it's there and it will be until the rest of our lives.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SHANNON BREAM, FOX NEWS HOST: Developing tonight, two deeply disturbing stories impacting both coasts of the country, each shining new light on the issue of violent illegal immigrant crime. First, in California where a Mexican immigrant who had been deported five times now faces charges of manslaughter in a drunk driving crash that killed a mother of two.
The other, in North Carolina where a teenage illegal immigrant from Honduras faces first-degree murder charges for allegedly decapitating his own mother. Trace Gallagher has been following the chilling details of those cases. He joins us from our west coast news room. Trace?
TRACE GALLAGHER, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Shannon. Let's begin here in California where 42-year-old Sandra Duran, just an hour after leaving church, was struck and killed in her car by a drunk driver. Police say the intoxicated driver, 45-year-old Estuardo Alvarado, was fleeing the scene of another traffic accident at a high rate of speed.
And the reason this case is generating so much outrage is because since 1998, Alvarado had been deported five times and had been arrested in Los Angeles more than five times, including for two previous DUIs, driving without a license, several charges of drug possession and resisting arrest.
Alvarado is now being held on $2 million bail, and if he were to be released, which is highly unlikely, immigration agents have issued a detainer to take him into custody. The family of Sandra Duran say they don't want this case to be used against illegal immigrants just trying to make a life, but they also believe California authorities share in the blame. Listen.
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JUANITA HERNANDEZ, SISTER OF SANDRA DURAN: Knowing the history that he had with the DUIs and so forth, it was like a slap on the hand and sent back, and he came back, and it shouldn't have been done like that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GALLAGHER: Separately, 200 miles east of Charlotte, North Carolina, an illegal teenage immigrant from Honduras has been charged with killing his mother. Police say 18-year-old Oliver Funes decapitated his mom because he, quote, felt like it. When police arrived on the screen, they spotted the suspect carrying both a butcher knife and his mother's head. His two younger siblings were inside the house unharmed at the time. Funes' so-called dream are protected under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals or DACA. His attorney says that he has significant mental issues. Shannon?
BREAM: All right. Trace, thank you very much for spelling out the details. Joining me now with more, David Wohl, attorney and President Trump's supporter, and Richard Fowler, senior fellow at New Leaders Council and Fox News contributor. Good to see you both.
DAVID WOHL, ATTORNEY AND PRESIDENT TRUMP'S SUPPORTER: Hi, Shannon.
RICHARD FOWLER, SENIOR FELLOW AT NEW LEADERS COUNCIL, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Good to see you, Shannon.
BREAM: Interestingly enough, I mean, David and Richard, I'm sure you're aware of this too, that the victim in the drunk driving crash, her sister is an LAP officer and said, not only are we grieving, I am worried about how many other families this is going to happen to. David, is this the president's best argument on this issue?
WOHL: Absolutely. The two public officials that owe that family an apology are Mayor Eric Garcetti of L.A. and Chief LAPD Charlie Beck who have engineered the sanctuary city policy that allowed Mr. Alvarado's stay in L.A. when he was released from jail multiple times and to stay in L.A. after her returned to United States after being deported five times.
On top of that, we risked losing in L.A. County 3.4 billion with the B dollars of federal funding for the sanctuary city policy and as far as the young monster who beheaded his mother, how do we know he wasn't adjudicated criminally insane in Honduras? We can't know that because if people crash the border, we can't let them, we can't do a background check. That is why the wall is so necessary and that is why Mr. Trump is so hot on getting it build.
BREAM: But Richard, you know, even the woman's family, the woman who was killed in the drunk driving crash, her father has said, I don't want her case to be used to hurt other people who were just coming here in good faith, to the immigrants who need to make a living, they're desperate to escape their home countries. I mean, even he who just lost his daughter said he doesn't want this to, you know, change the entire conversation.
FOWLER: And that is what makes this issue so hard, Shannon. I mean, you think about stories like this that are devastating and depressing, and those folks shouldn't be in this country. Then you have stories like the case that was reported in "Miami Herald" a couple weeks ago, James Lacroix, a Haitian national who came to America searching for economic freedom and he is being deported because of minor traffic offenses, right?
So we have both sides of this coin and it's not working. The reason why it's not working is Donald Trump, while I understand why he is putting this executive order forward, this is a stopgap measure. People in congress, the president of the United States, they need to get bold and say we are going to actually have comprehensive immigration reform with a pathway to citizenship.
Right now, America is operating on 1980 immigration laws, and the 1980s have called and asked for their laws back. We need new laws, we need modern laws, and now that Donald Trump has the White House, he has the senate, and he has the house, let's get some comprehensive immigration reform done so we can fix the problem.
BREAM: Okay. So Richard, you are okay with a temporary pause, for some of this, you're okay with this, because we have a lot of issues with people who are in this country who are under investigation for potential terrorism, that's according to the FBI. But David, does this begged the question, like Richard said, like it's time to get something done on Capitol Hill that is gonna be a more permanent solution? Will the party get together on that?
WOHL: Shannon, in 1986, Ronald Reagan passed the Amnesty Act. Everybody thought that would cure the problem. They said, look, we'll give everybody amnesty and after that we are going to strictly enforce the border. Look what happened. It didn't work. The bottom line is, we have immigration laws, we have people in Europe waiting in line for years to get into America, and we are saying, wait a second, everybody that sneaks up from the southern border, we have to make special accommodations for them just because?
It doesn't work that way. But Mr. Trump is focusing on right now on the hardest core criminals like Mr. Alvarado, who wouldn't have been here, by the way, if he hadn't been given sanctuary in this city, and if we have a president beforehand who would actually enforce the law.
BREAM: We have to leave it there. He was somebody who had previous drug charges and other drunk driving charges as well. So, that is definitely one of the cases this administration says it's gonna focus on. I know, Richard, you cited something else. There is a lot in here. We thank you both for coming on tonight.
FOWLER: There is a cut time.
WOHL: Thanks, Shannon.
BREAM: Thanks. Up next, a story that is still breaking at this hour. A probe from a Republican lawmaker claims and a rocky terror suspect is inside the U.S. after lying his way into the country. Just minutes ago, we got exclusive reaction from the Justice Department and the White House. Breaking details next. Plus, as a day without women protests continue at this hour, we will debate whether the messages do more harm than good.
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BREAM: Breaking tonight, new calls for an investigation after an alleged Iraqi insurgent got into the U.S. as a refugee with a false I.D. He was on the radar of the Joint Terrorism Task Force, and now some reports say he has gone missing. Just moments ago, we got reaction from the Justice Department and the White House. William La Jeunesse joins us now with the breaking details. Hi, William.
WILLIAM LA JEUNESSE, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Shannon, earlier this week, the chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee asked the attorney general to explain how a suspected Iraqi insurgent got into the U.S. despite being vetted as a refugee and lying who he was. Republican senator, Ron Johnson, of Wisconsin wrote to the attorney general after this Iraqi became the subject of an investigation by the Joint Terrorism Task Force in Texas.
According to Johnson's letter, and I'm quoting, this individual allegedly fought against American troops as an insurgent in Iraq and at some point entered the country as a refugee under a false alias and got a false I.D. The JTTF tracked down a Special Forces operator who captured the Iraqi who at one point boasted of killing U.S. troops, yet he applied for and later received refugee status under this false name.
In response, White House said today this statement, quote, President Trump has already taken several important steps to strengthen our national security, including the executive order he signed this week, which will put in place tougher vetting measures on foreign nationals from countries compromised by terrorism.
The Department of Homeland Security recently said nearly one-third of the 1,000 FBI domestic terrorism cases involve those admitted to the U.S. as refugees. The attorney general's office refused comment but said the matter is still under investigation. Back to you.
BREAM: All right. Keep us updated because we know there is a lot more to this story. We'll see how it ends up. Thanks, William.
LA JEUNESSE: Okay.
BREAM: Here now for today, Marc Thiessen, a former chief speechwriter for President George W. Bush and a Fox News contributor, and Matt Bennett, co-founder of Third Way and former deputy assistant to President Clinton. Good to have you both with us.
MATT BENNETT, CO-FOUNDER OF THIRD WAY, FORMER DEPUTY ASSISTANT TO PRESIDENT CLINTON: Good to be here.
MARC THIESSEN, FORMER CHIEF SPEECHWRITER FOR PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Good to be with you.
BREAM: Matt, is that the question that maybe a refugee vetting needs a little tweaking?
BENNETT: Look, we really don't know anything yet about whether this has any implications for policy or not. Senator Johnson's letter was not atypical, members of congress do this all the time. Somebody comes in as a whistle blower and they send a letter to the executive branch and say we want an investigation on this. Sometimes where there's smoke there's just people blowing smoke and sometimes there is fire. We don't know whether this is a real case of a refugee who is radical or not. It might be, and if that's the case, it needs to be fully investigated in an independent way, which is the very thing Democrats have been calling on congress to do when it comes to Russia and other things.
BREAM: Marc, I would think that you would agree with that, the last point anyway, maybe not the first part, that this is an outlier of the case.
THIESSEN: Yes, it's not an outlier of a case. In fact, unfortunately, it happens all the time. So in 2015, the Obama State Department testified before congress that the State Department has accidentally let in almost 10,000 people who later had their visas revoked retroactively because they either have engaged in terror activities or had ties to terror. 10,000 people.
What that means is almost 10,000 people penetrated our defenses, beat our screening system, and got visas in the country and then oops, the State Department figured it out, we go to revoke their visas, and then when Congressman Chaffetz asked the Obama State Department official where are they, she said I don't know. So we lost track of them. We don't know if they are in the United States. We don't now where they are. So this is a major problem in our screening system.
Second point is that last year, CNN and "The Washington Post" reported that there were 1800 people who were supposed to be deported for posing national security threats, and instead, they were granted citizenship. Citizenship! These are people who were considered too dangerous to enter the United States and they accidentally gave themselves, gave them the right to vote instead of deporting them. So our screening system is deeply, deeply, deeply broken.
BREAM: Well, Matt, do you think, I mean, we got this pause now on refugees, the Syrians are not singled out, it's a pause on all refugees, and we got ban on travel from other countries for a while. Is it worth taking this pause with all of those numbers in cases like Marc said, those are real people.
And if we have 10,000 potential terrorist suspects running around the country that we don't know about or don't know where they are or exactly what they are capable of, you know, can you be in favor of the pause? Maybe not, you know, permanent ban but some time to look at things and get some work done.
BENNETT: Well, Shannon, the problem -- Marc was talking about a completely different thing. These weren't refugees, these were people coming in on different kinds of visas. The refugee system is actually incredibly rigorous. It takes two years. There is, like, a 20-step process that refugees have to go through.
And the overwhelming majority of refugees are desperate people, many of them women and children, many of them have fought with or served as translators for our troops on the battlefield and are living in an enormous danger in some of these countries. So, no, I don't think the pause makes any sense and I think.
BREAM: What do you make of the FBI's announcement this week that 1,000 domestic cases of potential terrorism they are looking at, 300. They say a third of those cases are people who came here as refugees.
BENNETT: Well, there is a big difference between investigations and arrests.
BREAM: True.
BENNETT: If you look at the data, the overwhelming majority of terrorist attacks in the United States, of which, thankfully, there have been very, very few, are from people who have lived in the United States, either were born here or were citizens or lived here for a long time. People who come as refugees and very, very rarely commit crimes. People that come as immigrants commit crimes in lower numbers than citizens. So this is not a serious problem and it is not a good solution.
BREAM: Okay. We are almost out of time, so I want to make sure I give Marc a quick final word here.
THIESSEN: Sure. It's not only refugees that are part of the pause. It is other people with visas. The fact is, we know that people who have come here on visas and fooled our screening system and carried out terrorist attacks. The woman in the San Bernardino shooting came here, she beat our screening system, and killed 14 people. The underwear bomber in 2009, his father went to a U.S. embassy and said, my son is a terrorist. They didn't revoke his visa, he came in at almost blow up a plane over Detroit. So our screening system needs to be fixed.
BREAM: We got to leave there. All right. Marc and Matt, good to hear from both of you. Thanks so much. Protests and strikes across the country into the evening as a day without women fought fewer women at work and fewer kids at school. Katie Pavlich and Cathy Areu are here to debate.
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BREAM: Reaction to today's day without women protests and what some are calling (inaudible) message, women skipping work and in some cases leading to school closures to point out how much they are need. Today also quickly devolved from celebrating women to bashing President Trump.
(START VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Trump does not have respect for women! But he also doesn't know the power of women.
(CHEERS)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (inaudible) Republicans who diminish women. We know our value, and we know that America doesn't function without us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BREAM: Katie Pavlich is a news editor at townhall.com and a Fox News contributor, and Cathy Areu is a liberal analyst and publisher of Catalina Magazine. Good to have you both with us. All right, Cathy, I want to start with you. Is this more about promoting and celebrating women, or is this more of a continuation of the women's march which was clearly, and Washington, about saying, this is not our president, we want nothing to do with him and he's terrible.
CATHY AREU, LIBERAL ANALYST AND PUBLISHER OF CATALINA MAGAZINE: Well, actually it is a continuation of the women's march. They did say this is the fourth largest event that they are planning, 4 out of 10 events in the first 100 days of Trump's presidency, to protest him and his stance on women and what he has done for women, which isn't much and what we expect from him isn't much. And by putting Betsy DeVos in office, it is hurting teachers. Many teachers have already taken to the streets and are protesting. This is to protest Trump and Betsy DeVos and the records so far. It is a protest.
BREAM: Katie? Your reaction to what you saw today.
KATIE PAVLICH, NEWS EDITOR AT TOWNHALL.COM, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Well, it is hard to take the line about Betsy DeVos seriously when hundreds of teachers refused to show up at schools today and thousands of parents had to scramble to find child care. But that is a separate issue. In terms of what happened today, I think that women who showed up for work today deserve a lot more credit than those who did not.
And as far as what these women are allegedly protesting, you know, in the last month, President Trump has assigned two pieces of legislation investing money into -- specifically putting money towards women entrepreneurs and the sciences. He has also developed a new coalition between the Canadian government and the U.S. government to promote female CEOs in business.
And, of course, there is Ivanka Trump, who is a close advisor of the president who is very progressive in her views on family (inaudible), flexible work schedules, child care, maternity leave, paid maternity leave. And so in terms of what their goal is, I'm not sure, but again, I think the focus should be on the women who showed up for work today and did their job, climbing the ladder based on their merits and the work they do, and earning respect that way rather than throwing temper tantrums.
AREU: But women did show up for work today, and if they did show up for work, they are wearing red to show that they are with the women who did not show up. And the point of not showing up, a day without women, a day without a woman, is the point, can schools function without women?
And teachers and nurses are the most underpaid women in the country. For teachers not to show up -- they are underpaid and they are overworked. I'm a certified teacher and I'm very aware of that.
BREAM: Cathy, would we have had this particular events today had Hillary Clinton won the presidency?
AREU: I don't think Hillary Clinton would have overruled or stop the Mexico City policy which takes away health care for thousands of women around.
(CROSSTALK)
BREAM: --which the public polling shows that Americans are against that.
AREU: Thousands of women are going to die as a result.
BREAM: Okay, Katie, I'll let you take that, I'll let you respond.
PAVLICH: Thousands of women are not going to die as a result of Mexico City.
AREU: It's a fact.
PAVLICH: It's not true at all.
AREU: It is a fact.
PAVLICH: In terms -- that's not true at all.
AREU: It happened in Bush administration. It's a fact.
PAVLICH: In terms of how we move forward here and what the goal is, National Women's Day was originally founded in 1909 by the American Socialist Party. Nothing has really changed to this day. This was a march about liberal women, liberal policies, policies of taxpayer-funded abortion, unlimited abortion which the majority of Americans disagree with. It wasn't about all women. During the women's march, pro-life women were specifically told they could not go. And so kudos to those who showed up.
BREAM: We got to leave it there. Katie and Cathy, we appreciate your time, and we're glad you both showed up for work today, along with me. We'll be right back.
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BREAM: We want to hear from you, what you think about the show? So tweet us and use the #first100. We look forward to your feedback. Thanks for watching. I'm Shannon Bream. I'll see you tomorrow at 9:00 a.m. on "America's Newsroom" with Bill Hemmer. O'Reilly is up next.
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